Payment landing post-March

[SteelyDan]

The fact that all the agents and clients pushed payments early speaks volumes so whatever the ambiguity you want paying before the 6th.

Indeed that was my thinking. I'm awaiting a response from my accountant to see what he says, & hopefully that will support the message I send to the paying consultancy.

[jamesbrown]

That's the confusing part with statement 1...it's poorly worded & it depends how you read or interpret it. Is it the payment made on or after the 6th of April, or the services provided on or after 6th April?
Statement 2 (the previous statement) seemed to strictly confine it to payments made on or after the 6th April.

I cited both to evidence the change of wording following the HMRC review. The draft legislation emphasised that services before April 6 were within scope if payments were received afterwards - hence the panic - but this was clarified following the review and the outcome can be seen in the enacted legislation. Yes, the wording is still ambiguous in the enacted legislation, but this change was made following the HMRC review and they explicitly conceded this point in the review.

In other words, I really think the situation is quite clear, legally speaking, if not quite so clear to fee payers.

Here is the outcome of the review:

https://assets.publishing.service.go...w_Document.pdf

Here is the explicit concession, which may provide you with some comfort.

4.7 A common issue raised over the course of the review has been businesses’
concerns over when the rules will begin to apply to payments. Businesses
were concerned that the existing legislation would catch contracts for
services provided before April 2020 but invoiced after the rules came into
effect. Businesses reported that this was having an immediate impact on
their decisions about contracts.
4.8 The Government has listened and taken action early to give businesses
certainty, announcing on 7 February 2020 that the rules will now apply only
to payments made for services provided on or after 6 April 2020.

My emphasis. Following the delayed implementation, I think it's quite clear that the same approach will apply in 2021 as it did in 2020 (i.e., for all references to 2020 substitute 2021).

[SteelyDan]

I cited both to evidence the change of wording following the HMRC review. The draft legislation emphasised that services before April 6 were within scope if payments were received afterwards - hence the panic - but this was clarified following the review and the outcome can be seen in the enacted legislation. Yes, the wording is still ambiguous in the enacted legislation, but this change was made following the HMRC review and they explicitly conceded this point in the review.

In other words, I really think the situation is quite clear, legally speaking, if not quite so clear to fee payers.

Here is the outcome of the review:

https://assets.publishing.service.go...w_Document.pdf

Here is the explicit concession, which may provide you with some comfort.



My emphasis. Following the delayed implementation, I think it's quite clear that the same approach will apply in 2021 as it did in 2020 (i.e., for all references to 2020 substitute 2021).

Yep that's much clearer. Thanks for digging that out.