Contractors no longer be required to use the IR35 Business Entity Tests (BETs)
Contractors will no longer be required to take the IR35 Business Entity Tests (BETs), following HMRC’s announcement that it intends to abolish them from 6 April 2015. An IR35 Forum working group found that the BETs were not fit for purpose and being misused by public sector clients. The taxman opted to accept the forum focus group’s recommendation that they be abolished. More...
Creative and entertainment contractors forced onto the payroll by flawed BBC test
Contractors and freelancers delivering their services to the BBC are being forced on the corporation’s payroll as a result of its flawed employment test, and the BBC should undergo a judicial review as a result. Employment status expert David Kirk of David Kirk & Co believes that the one-page test is deeply flawed: “This is not the correct way of going about determining employment status. A public authority can be subjected to a judicial review if its procedures are illegal. The BBC’s employment test is a vitally important procedure and that procedure is flawed.” More...
Contractors make possible new ‘lean’ workforce strategies for contractor clients
Contractors offer increased capacity and specialist skills to contracting clients that increasingly adopt lean workforce strategies, says a new report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s (REC). The Recruitment Industry Trends Survey 2013/14 highlights that: “Employers are waking up to the benefits of keeping their core workforces lean and then flexing when they have peaks in demand or they require new specialist skills.” The core contracting disciplines dominate contract and temp work in the UK, accounting for 35.9% of all contract and temp assignments. More...
Contractors to benefit from new late payment measures
Contractors may be a step closer to having late payment tools they can actually use without alienating their clients. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is strengthening the Prompt Payment Code by recruiting a new advisory board of the UK’s biggest companies. However, IPSE’s director of policy and external affairs Simon McVicker believes stronger action is needed: “To truly put an end to the problem we need to see concrete action and statutory measures to change the culture around payment.” More...
Contracting’s highest paying contract assignments league table published by Parasol
Contractors have been given insights into the highest paying contracts and the skills they need to win them. Umbrella company Parasol has analysed the pay of tens of thousands of its contractors and identified an Office 365 Champion on £443 a day as the highest paid, closely followed by an IT procurement officer role in the aerospace/defence sector on £400 a day. “Our findings demonstrate the financial rewards on offer to those IT professionals who have successfully carved a niche in a particular area,” explains Parasol managing director David Kelly. More...
Contractors in the retail and distribution sectors see prospects modestly improve
Contractors targeting the retail and distribution sector can be cautiously optimistic about their prospects as the sector performed well for the third successive month in October 2014. The latest Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Distributive Trades Survey shows that growth in activity and the number of contracts was variable within the sector, with some subsectors such as fashion and grocery performing well. Rain Newton-Smith, CBI director of economics warned: “Risks remain to the UK recovery more generally, with the eurozone stalling, conflict in the Middle East and tensions over Ukraine. This could have an impact on consumer confidence and spending going forward.” More...
Contractors who file their paper tax return after 31 October face automatic penalty
Contractors who have yet to post their paper tax return almost certainly face an automatic fine of £100 as the deadline for the 2013/14 tax year is midnight on 31 October 2014. Those contractors who failed to meet the deadline still have the option of filing their return online, or asking their accountant to file on their behalf. The deadline for online returns for the 2013/14 tax year is 31 January 2015. The penalties for not filing a self assessment tax return get increasing steeper after three months. More...
Contractors can cut admin by filing microentity corporation tax and company accounts
Contractors now have the option of cutting down their admin by filing simplified microentity company accounts and corporation tax returns. Both HMRC and Companies House “are making improvements to the online filing experience of micro-entity companies”. This means that “from October 2014 microentities will have the option to file simplified accounts with HMRC” and “from mid November 2014 companies will also be able to send basic microentity accounts to Companies House”. More...
Contractors could pay less tax following tax pledges made during party conferences
Contractors may see progressive tax savings following the 2015 election regardless of which party wins, but only if the pledges made during the party conference season during October 2014 are implemented. The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has completed an analysis of the tax promises made by each of the main parties and how they plan to pay for them. A new Conservative or Liberal Democrat government could leave contractors better off, although the Tories have not explained how they plan to pay for their promised tax savings. More...