I resigned, but been given an offer (IR35)

[Sausage Surprise]

BBC? I'm not sure I follow..

It's something that happens a lot there apparently. People leave, have a leaving party and are back in a couple of months as a freelancer.

[fidot]

Correct - the entire income from the contract is paid as salary. From an accounting / investigation point of view, it would be cleaner if your salary is paid such that it clearly relates to that contract though.

If you do this ^^^, is there a need to declare the contract as inside IR35 because no deemed payment is due? If that is the case, then there is no flag being raised either.

[WordIsBond]

I went Friday to Monday, treated it as inside IR35, and every other contract I've had has been outside. I still keep that one going (10 hours a month, rolled over every six months) and keep it inside. I could probably argue outside successfully, it's really no different from any of my other contracts except the way it started. But it's not worth the hassle, since pension and salary eat it all anyway.

My other contracts have never been investigated, so I don't really think having one contract inside and others outside raises red flags. If anything, it makes it easier to claim you are a decent law-abiding bloke who follows the law when it applies, and they really should go chase somebody else who is cheating.

[TheFaQQer]

If you do this ^^^, is there a need to declare the contract as inside IR35 because no deemed payment is due? If that is the case, then there is no flag being raised either.

Yes. You need to declare that part of your work is inside IR35 when you complete your self assessment.

[fidot]

Yes. You need to declare that part of your work is inside IR35 when you complete your self assessment.

Fair enough. Thanks.
However, if you didn't declare a contract as inside, but paid sufficient in salary and/or pension, it wouldn't really matter, as there would be no more to pay. No?

[TheFaQQer]

Fair enough. Thanks.
However, if you didn't declare a contract as inside, but paid sufficient in salary and/or pension, it wouldn't really matter, as there would be no more to pay. No?

I guess not. I'm not sure if there is a penalty for not completing your SA accurately even if the result is that it makes no difference.

[VectraMan]

I did Friday to Monday. It was meant to be for 3 months "whilst we look for someone else", but turned out to be 15 months before I'd had enough. So that's something to think about.

I thought long and hard, but couldn't find any kind of justification for being outside IR35. I didn't "declare" anything; I've no idea how you would. Just made sure I paid 95% as salary/pension in the tax year I earned it. There's really no point messing about with deemed payments; you won't be any better off for it.

[Cirrus]

Interesting. So you mean to say that raising the IR35 issue myself over 2 months of work will perhaps draw unnecessary attention?
.

Having done this a lot longer than Northernlad, I struggle to understand why you would choose to make a fuss over a short term arrangement. The majority of contractors swerve IR35 rather like large numbers of people exceed 70 mph. It's a simple calculation about whether you might get caught. Except with IR35 even if they catch you they almost never prove the offence. Feel free to way up all the arguments of the barrack room lawyers on this channel but also give a thought to the practical view that many other contractors take. Put yourself in the position of the massively overworked Revenue officers with their poor systems and dreadful IT support (and remember they don't know you are a contractor without some clues) and think 'will I really pop up on their radar? And if I do will they pick me against all the other candidates?"

[northernladuk]

So for such a short term why not do it properly and just carry on. Go brolly, do 2 months and then go contracting after that. Doesn't matter who does what, it's your risk and your problem. Comparing other people's situations doesn't really justify your risk.


Maybe fair enough when we know the risks, fallout and so on. But to a tell newbie it's OK to commit evasion/aggressive avoidance, whichever it is, for the sake of two months. Really?

[VectraMan]

The thing is, you won't find anything official that says "If thou an employee were, shalt thou inside IR35 be". You'll find a lot of conjecture, and waffle, and most of what you google will lead you back to this forum, but no hard and fast rules that you are breaking. I was tempted, but decided I a) CBA'd, and b) felt it was a good excuse to make some hefty pension contributions which is a much less risky way to avoid tax.

The other thing is, it's April. You don't need to make a decision until either the end of your company year or next April.