IR35 Buddy - worth a closer look, maybe

[TheFaQQer]

There's nothing wrong with ensuring your tax affairs are arranged in a way that minimises your tax and takes advantage of all available reliefs, but it does put something of a taint on the industry when you hear stories of people using a limited company as a blatant excuse to avoid tax or take the mickey. We hear it often. My mate puts his dog through the company and his accountant lets him, why don't you?

Thankfully the majority are great and will listen to advice, but as ever there's always those who don't want to play by the rules or think we're being Tax Collectors by not recommending tax evasion.

Can I not claim dog food, then? I'm sure that there could be a case for my chihuahua being the company guard dog.

[Clare@InTouch]

Can I not claim dog food, then? I'm sure that there could be a case for my chihuahua being the company guard dog.

You mock, but I've been asked that.......

[IR35Buddy]

To avoid any confusion, we are not trying to claim that using any of the buddies reduces your chances of being investigated - simply that if you were investigated the use of the resources on the portal, whether that be the substitution network or using the national workspaces, could help - for the people that are already using them they're proving useful for their businesses, which is what it's all about.

We don't view this as a 'product'; it's a place to go for freely available documentation, networks of other contractors and information.

The portal was presented to HMRC on many occasions over the course of its development and they have been kept informed of any changes made.

To avoid any misconception that we have tried to create easy or artificial ways of 'avoiding' IR35 we noted in at least 16 different places in the pages of the site that the tools are intended to be used by genuinely self employed contractors.

[Clare@InTouch]

To avoid any confusion, we are not trying to claim that using any of the buddies reduces your chances of being investigated - simply that if you were investigated the use of the resources on the portal, whether that be the substitution network or using the national workspaces, could help - for the people that are already using them they're proving useful for their businesses, which is what it's all about.

We don't view this as a 'product'; it's a place to go for freely available documentation, networks of other contractors and information.

The portal was presented to HMRC on many occasions over the course of its development and they have been kept informed of any changes made.

To avoid any misconception that we have tried to create easy or artificial ways of 'avoiding' IR35 we noted in at least 16 different places in the pages of the site that the tools are intended to be used by genuinely self employed contractors.

Is there any way that Hector could join your network, pretend to be a Contractor, and then start writing himself a nice list of contacts to investigate?

[IR35Buddy]

Is there any way that Hector could join your network, pretend to be a Contractor, and then start writing himself a nice list of contacts to investigate?

Hi Clare – great question, but as you’re aware Hector already has this information within Companies House – director names, turnover levels and their self assessments, he doesn’t need IR35Buddy to give him any assistance with that!

[northernladuk]

Hi Clare – great question, but as you’re aware Hector already has this information within Companies House – director names, turnover levels and their self assessments, he doesn’t need IR35Buddy to give him any assistance with that!

But Companies House don't hold details of who is using systems such as this.

[Sockpuppet]

I don't understand....are they affiliated to Qdos?

http://www.ir35buddy.com/job-buddy/i...cation-scheme/

I suppose it might serve a purpose for the new contractor or at least give someone a safer feeling. I'm not sure its a replacement for a proper understanding of IR35 though.

[GB9]

To avoid any confusion, we are not trying to claim that using any of the buddies reduces your chances of being investigated - simply that if you were investigated the use of the resources on the portal, whether that be the substitution network or using the national workspaces, could help - for the people that are already using them they're proving useful for their businesses, which is what it's all about.

I think you have that the wrong way around.

You start with the BET, which is exactly the thing that decides if you are more likely to be investigated or not. Your site appears to offer ways to increase the score and thus reduce the risk of investigation. Great, until Hector does come knocking regardless and finds that lots of the points scored are a sham. At that point its down to the contract and working practices.

My angst with QDOS is that they seem to be playing along with the sham, when they know that in reality, BETs are meaningless from a legal perspective.

[jamesbrown]

if you were investigated the use of the resources on the portal, whether that be the substitution network or using the national workspaces, could help

And that's what makes this effort worse than innocuous IMHO, because it promotes a DIY approach, which could negatively impact the outcome of a case. The best thing that any contractor can do on receiving notice is to contact the professionals and leave it to them, and I'm pretty sure they won't be asking for your "passport" to compliance to cement anything.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

To avoid any confusion, we are not trying to claim that using any of the buddies reduces your chances of being investigated - simply that if you were investigated the use of the resources on the portal, whether that be the substitution network or using the national workspaces, could help - for the people that are already using them they're proving useful for their businesses, which is what it's all about.

We don't view this as a 'product'; it's a place to go for freely available documentation, networks of other contractors and information.

The portal was presented to HMRC on many occasions over the course of its development and they have been kept informed of any changes made.

To avoid any misconception that we have tried to create easy or artificial ways of 'avoiding' IR35 we noted in at least 16 different places in the pages of the site that the tools are intended to be used by genuinely self employed contractors.

Really?

"The Business Entity Test (BET) is a 12 question test introduced by HMRC to help you to work out whether you are at low, medium or high risk of HMRC checking whether IR35 applies to you.
Each of the 12 questions carry points and upon completion of the test you are attributed a score. If you score more than 20 points you are deemed to be low risk; scoring 19 or less means that you are at medium to high risk... this is where your IR35 Buddies can help! "

"Improve your score with your Buddies

Get 22 Points

BET Test Question IR35Buddy© Points
Substitution Contract Substitution Buddy© 2
PI Insurance Ltd Services Buddy© 2
Financial Billing Test Ltd Services Buddy© 2
Advertise your Services Advertising Buddy© 2
Repair at Own Risk Contract Contracts Buddy© 4
Business Office Contract Premises Buddy© 10

Total 22

Now get 43 Points

You already have 22 points - 22

Business Plan Contracts Buddy© 1
Invoke Buddy Substitution Contract Substitution Buddy© 20

Total 43