BN66 - JR Judgement Day

[malvolio]

Anyone reckon it's worth getting the FSB involved? I've been a member for a few years and one of their strenghts (besides legal advice) is their lobbying power.

Would be worth asking but they won't work wth the PCG and barely acknowledge their existence. You guys would have no chance.

[WhatEver]

I sent him a reply, nice and polite, see what he says tomorrow

...the reply, a little more contrite


Dear XXXXXXXX,

Thank you for your further comments. I accept that the original headline on the story referring to "tax dodgers" may have been unduly provocative
- it has since been amended to "tax avoiders".

Before you wrote to us, we had already added information to make it clear that the number of people cited by the barrister as possibly facing bankruptcy was drawn from a small sample.

As for my remarks, I am sorry you felt they were sarcastic and regret causing offence. However, the news story itself was an accurate and balanced report of the High Court judgement, reflecting both the key issue of the retrospective nature of the change and the judge's reasons for upholding the change to the law. It is highly likely that we will be revisiting this subject in the future.
If you wish to pursue any of the points you have raised, you can do so via the BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit at Room 5170, White City, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TS or by e-mail at [email protected] .

Best wishes,

Ian Pollock

[weeboaby]

I'm depressed. And I only have a rough idea of what I owe. Not pretty.

[smalldog]

But it's not by a long way. We are barely 10 minutes into the first half.

Montpelier will appeal.

PwC are in court in March.

KPMG have applied to Europe.

And so long as there are people to fight for, I'll never stop.

PwC and KPMG are pretty heavyweight guys to be taking it further.....gives me more hope...Im wondering if any other organisations will now come out of the woodwork following the judgement...sure there are some people who have been waiting on the sidelines....there are all sorts of people including personalities and sports professionals who have used this kind of arrangement, allegedly...

[VIEWDESK]

How do i find out how much i owe?

I am an extremely long time lurker who has been saddened angered into posting ,by the Judicial decision !

In my opinion , it seems to me that because the judgement was made so quickly , I think that the decision was a foregone conclusion and the judge had made his mind up before the evidence was presented !

I have never received any CN's from HMRC so have no idea what I allegedly owe them in tax (or interest for that matter) . I have been with MontP since 2004 .
Could somebody give advice on how I calculate or find out what I am supposed to owe in tax and interest?

Then I can make a decsion on whtehr to invest in a CTD or not.

[smalldog]

I'm depressed. And I only have a rough idea of what I owe. Not pretty.

sorry to correct you but you dont owe a bean right now....I stand corrected (said the man in the orthopedic shoes) if you log into the government portal and can see all the CN's as now due..

[robinhood]

PwC and KPMG are pretty heavyweight guys to be taking it further.....gives me more hope...Im wondering if any other organisations will now come out of the woodwork following the judgement...sure there are some people who have been waiting on the sidelines....there are all sorts of people including personalities and sports professionals who have used this kind of arrangement, allegedly...

How can PWC win ? Same arrangements as us but I suppose with a different judge you never know

[Rhydd]

A proper tax structure for contractors

While we await developments on BN66, here is a thought.

I've been contracting for more than 20 years. When I started there weren't many contractors - unlike today.

When I started, my accountant advised me to work as a self-employed individual. No company or anything: it worked OK.

A few years later, legislation was introduced so that Agencies weren't allowed to deal with self-employed people, they could only deal with limited companies.

I formed a limited company. A company is something that strikes me as suitable for medium to large businesses, but daft for a one-man band. What on earth is the point of all those documents that have to be filed at Companies House, all those board minutes etc?

Then IR35 came along. Attempting to treat me the same as an employee was downright wrong. I didn't think like an employee, work like an employee, have an employees benefits and I change clients every six to twelve months. I found Montpelier and joined their scheme.

What the Government needs to do is to recognize that there are thousands of independent contractors. We aren't employees of our clients and limited companies aren't designed for us but for other kinds of business.

Government ought to establish a tax schedule that is designed for independent contractors. A schedule that treats us as independent businesses, allowing us to set off our necessary expenses against tax, acknowledging that wives/husbands/partners do make a contribution to the business and recognizing that we are a major contributor to the nation's flexible workforce.

We should not be forced to jump through stupid hoops just because the Government or HMCR are too lazy to think the problem through properly, or because they think that we can be milked. They need to recognize that the Contractor sector has grown into a significant part of the economy and they are trying to force it into tax legislation that is appropriate for other structures. They should respect the Contractor sector, design a tax structure for us and allow us to get on with our work.

Looking beyond BN66, how about a campaign, writing to our MP's, to Alastair Darling, George Osborne & maybe even HMCR itself to sort out the tax position of independent contractors in a fair and reasonable way?

[smalldog]

How can PWC win ? Same arrangements as us but I suppose with a different judge you never know

Im not saying they can or will, but the more people that contest this the more chance we have of someone standing up and saying, hold on a minute we've got two of the largest accounting and consultancy companies in the world disagreeing with this, is this right?....not just 2500 scum without any corporate clout (their view of us I suspect)...

gotta remember it was consultancies that had enough corporate might to lobby for and encourage Dim Prawn to introduce IR35 legislation in the first place if they can do that, who knows what they can influence....the more big names that bring this to judicial attention the more chance we have..

[helen7]

I want to put forward a suggestion that we form a committee to represent the users of this scheme and all those affected. The key output will be a website (www.fight bn66.org?) and this will allow us to put all valuable references in a single place to argue our case. It will also allow us to issue Press Statements for the community and get our point across and lobby the various groups (or politicians)

No discredit to all the hard work people have done but please don't forget that HMRC were able to better organise the case and gather many attacks from this very forum. Knowing how strong the oposition was probably influenced thier decision to get a very highly respected and expensive human rights lawyer to fight on their side.

However, that being said I think a website with the facts and clear concise information for the press would be a great idea; but please be very careful before you set anything up, anything you do can impact the lives of 2500 familes.