"statutory obligation to report to HMRC any non-PAYE payment [made] to contractors"

[Untouchable1]

Hi,

I'm halfway through a contract through an agency. I'm set up as a LTD.

I just received an email containing the following:

We now have a statutory obligation to report to HMRC any non-PAYE payment we make to contractors. Their National Insurance number is one of the pieces of information they require. Could you please forward this information by return.

What's this all about? Just because they have an obligation doesn't mean I have an obligation to provide it....until I hear otherwise...

Thanks,
Jamie

[malvolio]

No it doesn't. But if you don't supply the data they will send in your entry to HMRC with a non-compliance sticker on it so they don't get fined so at some point you will be asked to prove you are paying the right taxes on your gross.

So, do you feel lucky?

[northernladuk]

Been discussed in great detail already..

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ag...spv=1&ie=UTF-8

[cojak]

This has been discussed before here: http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...ml#post2117986

And I couldn't put it better than this

You don't HAVE to comply. However the agency has to provide the info to HMRC so if you don't provide the info, the agency will be obliged to cancel your contract.

[TheFaQQer]

There's a lot of speculation about what happens if you don't provide the information - there isn't, as such, a flag on the record that says "this person didn't comply". But when the agency submits the data, they will be warned that there is incomplete data. If they then submit with incomplete data, they could be fined.

Even if they terminate your contract for non-compliance (and there would have to be a clause in the contract for this, unless they use any other clause to terminate) they are still open to be fined because they have to provide the data and they don't have it. It might help them to be able to say "we terminated the contract because they didn't provide the information", and it might not.

Until there are more examples of what happens if the agency doesn't provide the data, it's all speculation about what will happen. Why not try not providing it and let us know what the outcome is?

[jamesbrown]

Why not try not providing it and let us know what the outcome is?

I like the cut of your jib.

Seriously, though, OP, just provide the info. As TF says, no one knows how non-information might be used against you, but you can be sure that there will be fewer people not complying than those complying, so I know where I'd start as HMRC. Why risk your contract (and potentially more) over it?