IR35 in PS gets reported in the media...

[jamesbrown]

True.

I remember when the Guardian used to be a paper with a number of good writers, now its just meh.
The Iraq war reporting, for example, was very strong.

I have always read media right across the board, in any case, when I was growing up, well prior to the internet

Absolutely. I used to read it regularly too. Not that it's only a problem with the Gruaniad. They don't have the quality of writers for the day-to-day stuff. Their last decent reveal was the Panama papers. The business model of the Gruaniad and other traditional outlets is essentially bust (there's a begging bowl after almost every article now).

[SueEllen]

Are doctors and nurses a good example, surely most of them are inside IR35 anyway?

Depends on how senior they are.

If they are a consultant, GP or senior nurse they aren't. But then they may have to manage staff so are...

[DotasScandal]

Until I read that comment, I thought it was almost inevitably going to be extended in, say, April 2018....

They may shelve it for now but only to try it on again later. 100% guaranteed.

[SueEllen]

They may shelve it for now but only to try it on again later. 100% guaranteed.

The clever thing to do is to increase the dividend tax.

[jamesbrown]

The clever thing to do is to increase the dividend tax.

In my view, that's exactly what they'll do; introduce measures that render different forms of income more "equivalent" for tax purposes. Dividend tax is a somewhat blunt tool with implications far beyond the contracting sector, but it's a straightfoward lever, available to them right now, whereas most others require broad-based reform (i.e. long grass). I don't think they're really listening to arguments about the flexible workforce.

I suppose the cynic in me has always thought that the PS debacle was fully intended, as a springboard to the argument that rapid equivalence in the private sector was essential, but the comment in this article suggests otherwise, and that they'll probably take a different route.

I'm not sure how many of you read the recent report from the IFS, but you can be sure that the Gov't is paying attention, and increased dividend taxation, increased NI for the self-employed etc. will all be on the table as interim measures to equivalent taxation of all forms of income in the long-run.

[eek]

The clever thing to do is to increase the dividend tax.

Increasing that much further impacts others rather than just contractors including pensioners with a bit of savings...

IR35 now comes down to where does Employers NI come from - the solution would be to make it part of Employees NI and mandate a 13.8% increase in gross pay to reflect it but that isn't going to work.

We again reach the point in the project where you look at where you want to be and think we'll we ain't going to get there from here. And that is true of both our employment laws and our income tax rules...

[jamesbrown]

Increasing that much further impacts others rather than just contractors including pensioners with a bit of savings

But they don't need to increase it much in % terms, and rich pensioners don't have the same leverage under May. I'd expect several measures in future that impact the upper quantiles of pension income.

[bobspud]

But they don't need to increase it much in % terms, and rich pensioners don't have the same leverage under May. I'd expect several measures in future that impact the upper quantiles of pension income.

I thought the dividends were also going to screw the pension funds?

[LondonManc]

In my view, that's exactly what they'll do; introduce measures that render different forms of income more "equivalent" for tax purposes. Dividend tax is a somewhat blunt tool with implications far beyond the contracting sector, but it's a straightfoward lever, available to them right now, whereas most others require broad-based reform (i.e. long grass). I don't think they're really listening to arguments about the flexible workforce.

I suppose the cynic in me has always thought that the PS debacle was fully intended, as a springboard to the argument that rapid equivalence in the private sector was essential, but the comment in this article suggests otherwise, and that they'll probably take a different route.

I'm not sure how many of you read the recent report from the IFS, but you can be sure that the Gov't is paying attention, and increased dividend taxation, increased NI for the self-employed etc. will all be on the table as interim measures to equivalent taxation of all forms of income in the long-run.

Yet they're still targeting the wrong people - clients get off the hook without paying business NICs whatever approach they ramp up.

[SueEllen]

I thought the dividends were also going to screw the pension funds?

Why?

It is individual taxation.