Originally posted by IAmContractor
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good luck!
"Perhaps if more people challenge HMRC in this, it will cause more headache than it is worth."
given HMRC's flat refusal to accept facts which counter their position at every turn, I wouldn't bank on it.
It's like this, many clients and contractors will roll over and accept the regulations. I know of two who did so, right from the outset, well before these new rules were published. HMRC will walk away from anyone who has a strong case to challenge them, in order to avoid having case law being set against their position. So clearly there would be a nett increase in taxation.
Don't forget, it's a two fold approach, it's political and economic, "we can't have these overpaid contractors avoiding tax", despite the fact that it's the clients who are also avoiding tax by not having to pay the employer's NIC.
There's also the situation where representatives of the big software houses are lobbying HMG to effectively freeze out independent contractors. I can't remember his name, but one prominent Labour MP who supported IR35 when Labour were in power (was it Timms the one who was stabbed by a constituent?), had strong links with one large software house.
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