How long before someone can contract?

[speling bee]

Can someone explain this to me? I understand that a key purpose of IR35 was to catch the Friday to Monday contractor, and the the Business Entity Tests reflect this, but does it have any status in law?

Now, if your working arrangements are the same as before, then you are most likely caught. But if you contract to work on defined deliverables, then you're not caught. So does the Friday to Monday make any material difference to the true legal status (not likelihood of investigation by HMRC, or likelihood that you don't sort out the working arrangements).

I wonder if we are fooled by received wisdom, and if the correct advice should be:

- Get your contract reviewed
- Be sure of your working arrangements
- Operate outside IR35 (unless of course you actually really are inside)
- Join PCG / get insurance

[northernladuk]

I don't think the Entity tests were created to catch Friday to Monday contractors. They are designed to see if you are a business or not. I don't think they interact in the way you suggest. More complex than that but you see my point?

[speling bee]

I don't think the Entity tests were created to catch Friday to Monday contractors. They are designed to see if you are a business or not. I don't think they interact in the way you suggest. More complex than that but you see my point?

There's a -15 point question for the Friday to Monday contractor. But the BET isn't central to my question, but illustrates the mystique of Friday to Monday in our discussions on IR35.

[FiveTimes]

Has the current end client engaged you:
- on PAYE employment terms
- within the 12 months which ended on the last 31 March
- with no major changes to your working arrangements?

I'm currently working direct at a place where I was PAYE for 5 years but was redundant in 2002. How far back does it go ?

[Wanderer]

I'm currently working direct at a place where I was PAYE for 5 years but was redundant in 2002. How far back does it go ?

I would be inclined to argue that there has been a lot of water under the bridge in the last 10 years so it doesn't matter but as with so many things coming from that bunch, it's a bit ambiguous. Are those conditions ANDed or ORed?