Originally posted by PerfectStorm
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HMRC went back over all contracts and expense claims I made the previous 6 years and challenged lots of them. One contract was previous to the one on the letter which was in the same area but 4.5 miles away. I finished with ClientCo and had a 3 month break before joining the one above and HMRC kept quoting the Square Mile rule at me. I pointed out that it was outwith a square mile away but they didn't explain at any time that they meant the direction of travel, the 40% rule and that 3 months wasn't a long enough break.
I understand QDoS might have changed now but back then I was really gutted that they wanted to throw me to the wolves rather than pay the £7k to take it to the commissioners. I thought that's why I had the IR35 insurance with them. I'm sure if I had paid the fee myself and won, QDoS would have claimed the success as their own. If they had challenged the letter properly as I had asked them to do, it didn't need to go to the commisioners anyway as it proved when PCG got involved.
ETA: Lots of the expense claims they said were wrong and I should pay back, I accepted their decision but after I received the appeal letter I didn't pay anything back. One was when I paid for a group meal for contractors and put it through as entertainment. We all took turns to pay so it was normal. HMRC asked me several times for the names of the people at the meal but I refused knowing that it would kick off IR35 investigations into them. I said I would rather just treat it as a director's loan and pay it back.
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