UK consultant, Dutch client

[Old Leslie]

I have a few part-time clients for my Ltd Co, genuinely outside IR35. I have been approached by a Dutch company, with no UK entity (that i'm aware of) for a fairly meaty bit of consulting work to be done remotely (from my own office but with some travel to NL). It's maybe 12-18 months of work.

The actual end-user of the consulting company is a British company with offices in both UK and NL. Their UK entity will only engage with contractors in the UK as PAYE.

The consulting company in question don't seem aware of this, I guess it's a UK matter. They don't seem switched on to IR35 at all!

Question time - does IR35 apply to a Dutch client for my UK Ltd co? There won't be an agency in between, just direct PO and invoicing. No timewriting, no supervision etc.

Cheers

[NotAllThere]

So the Dutch client is a consultancy. As they're hiring your company to hire you out, it seems to me that IR35 applies.

[Old Leslie]

Yes they’re a consultancy. They gave a long term contract with their client. They want me to do a specific piece of work for that client that they can’t do themselves (and, obviously, the client can’t either).

My question wasn’t so much about the nature of the role and whether that dictated in or out of IR35, it was about whether the question was even applicable when my client (the Dutch consultancy) isn’t UK based.

The fact their client is British maybe clouds the issue.

Thanks

[eek]

Yes they’re a consultancy. They gave a long term contract with their client. They want me to do a specific piece of work for that client that they can’t do themselves (and, obviously, the client can’t either).

My question wasn’t so much about the nature of the role and whether that dictated in or out of IR35, it was about whether the question was even applicable when my client (the Dutch consultancy) isn’t UK based.

The fact their client is British maybe clouds the issue.

Thanks

It depends who the actual end client delivering the product is - if there is decent internal management within the consultancy you may not have a problem, if you are being bodyshopped and a daily rate to the end client that's a problem.

And that is made 100% worse by the fact the end client's UK branch has implemented a no PSC policy to avoid doing IR35 compliance checks.

[jamesbrown]

To be clear, IR35 "applies" if you meet the minimum requirements, which represent a very low bar (are providing services via an intermediary and, if it's a company, hold a 5% shareholding etc.). Whether you are caught or not and who should make that assessment are the questions that matter.

Is it a "fully outsourced supply" to the NL company? In other words, the UK company isn't aware of you, doesn't care about you, is paying for the delivery of a service or product, not you. If yes, then there is probably no relevant UK connection in the supply chain, and YourCo is, therefore, responsible and liable for determining status. If it's not a fully outsourced supply and the UK company is not a small company, then the NL company will be responsible for the SDS and the UK company will be liable, in the first instance, as the UK connection in the supply chain (if the SDS is wrong).

All of which may yet be irrelevant if the UK company discover the situation and instruct their supplier to avoid dealing with your PSC. In that case, I guess you could say that IR35 "does not apply" and you're instead dealing with an employment contract of some kind, whether umbrella or otherwise.