Agency charged a fee for "IR35 assessment"

[Jolie]

at the very least I would demand a VAT invoice from them. And if not forthcoming I would report them anonymously to HMRC for VAT fraud.

+1

If they are charging you for a service they have carried out, then that's a separate invoice.

I would insist they paid the original invoice you sent for the full amount, and invoice you separate for the IR35 assessment.

[Eirikur]

OP is lucky last October HAYS made my company pay for the QDOS assessment - £94.80. I also had to renew some of my insurances as I was working inside for a while and hadn't renewed these. All together it costed my company £400. Two days before the start date they postponed the contract start by a week and a week later they cancelled the contract. Tried to claw back at least some of the money, but they went suddenly very very silent.

[PerfectStorm]

Write back saying that, as your employer, they should be covering the expense. And request your annual leave in the same email.

[Lance]

Yes sensible comments. Almost certainly not worth the hassle and potential fallout from it.

No I've not been sent an invoice. Just the line on my invoice that is without vat, so no vat for me to reclaim.

at the very least I would demand a VAT invoice from them. And if not forthcoming I would report them anonymously to HMRC for VAT fraud.

[edison]

I had to pay a fee like this when working with a client through Hays. Was about £80-90. Bit annoying but I made over £150k with the client so couldn't complain too much.

Went to work for the same client again the following year and the client had brought recruitment in house. They used CEST, so I wasn't charged for anything.

[CheeseSlice]

Its poor of the agency to not mention it. I had a similar deduction but agreed to it up front. Its £20, at least its not £100-200.

The annoying bit for me was accounting for that as the self-billing invoice didn't match my invoice in Freeagent. On the plus side I was able to give my accountant some actual work to do adjusting it.

[northernladuk]

My Only Fans income is none of your business.

I'm sure your Only Fans should be absolutely no ones business. Like no one

[TheDude]

You make that having a poo in the morning - pay it

My Only Fans income is none of your business.

[PerfectStorm]

You make that having a poo in the morning - pay it

[jumbotron]

Yes sensible comments. Almost certainly not worth the hassle and potential fallout from it.

No I've not been sent an invoice. Just the line on my invoice that is without vat, so no vat for me to reclaim.

[Lance]

you've presumably invoiced x, and they've paid x - £20 ???

The correct course of action if you really want that is to simply use a dunning process (Google it).
But for the sake of £20 I wouldn't waste my time.

It does need accounting for though. So it's either a business expense or a bad debt. Ask your accountant as the VAT needs proper treatment (did you get a VAT invoice the assessment?)

[northernladuk]

But it didn't cost you £20 in the end because you can expense that so comes off your profit etc.

Bit of a piss take but life is hard. There are bigger fights to be had.

[eek]

If you argue it don’t be surprised to see a second determination that you are inside.

[dx4100]

It would piss me off... but I probably wouldn't do much about it beyond that presuming I was charging my usual day rate. I spend more on lunch.

[jumbotron]

Started a contract about 2 months ago. As part of this I had a meeting with the recruiter and he asked me questions relating to determine the status of the contract. I got an email from IR35 shield with a copy of the SDS in. All seems fine.

In my most recent invoice in the self billing system they've taken £20 off though, for an "IR35 assessment". Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but the principle pisses me off. As I understand it, it's the client's responsibility to produce the SDS and the client/fee payer's responsibility to make the correct determination. If I was concerned about the status even then I would go to someone independent like QDOS to review it. Add to that I was never told about this fee upfront, it's just been randomly added. This was before the contract was signed, but the contract also makes clear that any charges need to be authorised and declared upfront.

I have emailed the recruiter and he said "oh it's listed in this document which we never sent you before". I'd like it refunded. Just want to check I've got the right line of thinking before I challenge it further.