New IR35 Guidance hot off the presses

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ir35/guidance.pdf

[scooby]

interesting comments:

We can help you with IR35
As a small business, you need to have certainty about IR35. You need to
know whether IR35 applies to you.
If you would like advice, you can phone our confidential IR35 helpline on
0845 303 3535.
As well as answering one-off queries, the IR35 helpline provides a review
service.
The helpline and review service are staffed by HMRC specialists in IR35. Both
are independent of our compliance teams – if you ask them about IR35, they
will not pass on what you tell them to other people in HMRC.
The specialists can review a contract for you if you want certainty about your
position. If you decide to use the contract review service, and we conclude
that your contract is outside IR35, we will give you a certificate with a unique
number. This certificate will be valid for three years.
Intermediaries legislation (IR35): business entity tests, example scenarios
Version 1, May 2012
9f, later on, we open an IR35 review, you can give us this number. We will
then suspend our IR35 review while we consider all the information. We will
close our IR35 review if:
 the contract we reviewed is typical of your engagement terms and
conditions
 the information provided is accurate.

How much do you trust them to review in an unbiased fashion? And will they use the same pointers / clauses as other experts?

[GillsMan]

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ir35/guidance.pdf

Did the test. Scored 21, which only just puts me in the Low Risk category (very close to Medium Risk). But the questions are nonsense. For example, if any of my clients had failed to pay me, I would have got an extra 10 points, but that's not happened, because I'm business-minded enough to ensure I always get paid.

[cojak]

I'll phone QDOS, thanks all the same...

[scooby]

I've been out of touch of a few days now, but has this been made mandatory and when will need to run this test? When write and ask us if we've considered IR35?

I'll expect the neg rep from the usual suspects, but i said weeks ago in another thread, contracting is under threat, and the focus is REALLY moving to us now. If they really are going to investigate more, they are going to catch more just based on the probability hit rate.

Those who act as a real business, but based from home (i.e. no office etc) are also now being threatened, especially if a one man band. I dont believe HMRC recognise the one-man band to be a business, they think we are screwing the system...

How many will just run out and rent an office to give them 10 additional points and therefore out of highrisk instantly? Also, there is a big focus on the intermediary in that document. Such comments as the intermediary take the financial risk, suggesting that we dont when using an agent.

This all makes Qdos insurance a better buy!!

[NickNick]

Did the test. Scored 21, which only just puts me in the Low Risk category (very close to Medium Risk). But the questions are nonsense. For example, if any of my clients had failed to pay me, I would have got an extra 10 points, but that's not happened, because I'm business-minded enough to ensure I always get paid.

Having an agency go bust on me, and losing out on c£15K gets me ten points extra. WIN.

[malvolio]

Having an agency go bust on me, and losing out on c£15K gets me ten points extra. WIN.

Precisely. However, investing £220 in PCG Plus would have covered that loss, no questions asked. So which is the better pointer towards behaving like a business and protecting the bottom line?

These Victim Tests are meaningless drivel.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Precisely. However, investing £220 in PCG Plus would have covered that loss, no questions asked. So which is the better pointer towards behaving like a business and protecting the bottom line?

These Victim Tests are meaningless drivel.

Why are they?

[Bumfluff]

Just read through the document reads like a GCSE project, its confused me more as example cases I assumed would fail IR35 pass. I hope we can use the inside / outside examples they give as evidence in an IR35 review if any of us ever have them as they seem to swing in the contractors favour, its looks easier to be out of IR35 than I thought.

[JamJarST]

Precisely. However, investing £220 in PCG Plus would have covered that loss, no questions asked. So which is the better pointer towards behaving like a business and protecting the bottom line?

These Victim Tests are meaningless drivel.

Would have been nice if the PCG had actually done something about these business entitiy tests so that they actually meant something, instead we now have a test which is clearly designed to help HMRC direct attention at us for investigation.