BBC Presenters chased by HMRC

[Hobosapien]

Is there a timeline of regulation changes available to show that it was government that caused agencies and direct clients to require self employed to operate via a PSC rather than the contractor choosing to use a PSC for tax purposes?

i.e. Agency have long since required contractors to use PSC Ltd or umbrella. What caused that?

As someone seeking contract work rather than employment, if forced to use a Ltd then it is logical to use the accounting practices available such as income split between PAYE and dividends.

So there should be an amnesty on those pushed down the route that the government now considers tax avoidance and a clear route of operating put in place which allows true self employed to contract without a Ltd based on the nature of the contract that is agreed between client and contractor.

[malvolio]

What caused it was the old issue of contractors doing a gig then disappearing, leaving their taxes unpaid and the agencies liable for them to HMRC. Not surprisingly the agencies insisted on the intermediary company to protect themselves under debt transfer provisions that are still in place.

That des not detract from the very real benefits of working through YourCo of course, and many people (myself included) used them for those reasons, rathe than taking the SE option, and paid all necessary taxes.

The myth that we do so to avoid NICs and its associated tax dodger propaganda was all HMT's invention though, and has rather confused the picture.

[BR14]

The myth that we do so to avoid NICs and its associated tax dodger propaganda was all HMT's invention though, and has rather confused the picture.

That'll be why the taxdodger threads are becoming an axminster carpet then

[Hobosapien]

What caused it was the old issue of contractors doing a gig then disappearing, leaving their taxes unpaid and the agencies liable for them to HMRC. Not surprisingly the agencies insisted on the intermediary company to protect themselves under debt transfer provisions that are still in place.

So the ability for dodgy contractors to disappear and the agency be on the hook for tax should have been prevented.

If you get a self employed handy-man in to do anything from gardening to painting, plumbing, ... you don't have to check they're paying the taxes and become liable if they aren't.

Should all be covered in enforceable contract terms supported by HMRC to ensure the right entity is chased for taxes. If individuals can disappear then it's down to improving identity checks and fraud prevention not passing the buck back up the chain to ensure tax is paid.

[webberg]

From the admittedly limited research I've done, the reason agencies etc require a PSC is more in connection with transfer of debt provisions than tax.

I know that the myth is alive and kicking that a PSC in the chain puts you outside IR35, but I suspect even that one will struggle come April 2020.

In terms of the BBC, why are they any different from the Civil Service, the NHS or any public funded body?

If my licence fee is used to pay the tax of a contractor, then are my taxes going to be used to pay other peoples' tax?

[cojak]

And this is wrong, i.e. tax inefficient.
Since when is paying more in tax and/or NIC a requirement to stay under HMRC's radar?

It may have been tax inefficient, but it wasn’t wrong.

I was happy with it. I didn’t earn as much as £18K but I paid full NICs.

It was whatever let’s you sleep at night.