Re: Tax-avoiding umbrella companies ‘using legit names to entice contractors’

[lucyclarityumbrella]

There have been "talks" of a licensing regime for the industry, but whether this will come along in April 2027 with regulation, or whenever, who knows! I am not averse to this at all - unless the costs prohibit it. We have the ocmpliance burden no matter what, so should just be an extension to what we already do.

[ladymuck]

If HMRC were to endorse umbrellas then you'd get the likes of Crapita, Wipro, Deloitte, etc all getting the green tick and the little guys like Clarity losing out because of the bureaucratic burden.

[agentzero]

Why should they?
SNIP

Very obviously because then they have to spend less taking down dodgy umbrella companies and chasing links in a chain to the end taxpayer with fines for missing tax. Unraveling this takes a long time and costs money and resources.

So yes, they should, and save the public purse a lot of expenses.

[northernladuk]

Why should they? All they'll get is problems and cost trying to keep up with vetting and then get stung when one drops through the net and ceases to be operating properly for absolutely zero benefit to HRMC. They police the system, not ensure it works. They aren't going to take all the effort and risk when there is nothing in it for them.

[ladymuck]

No, they don't want to be seen to endorse anything. The closest is the FCSA, a private enterprise, that has their own criteria as to what good looks like.

Think about the implementation of CEST, which has done very little to help people make an informed decision about status. Also consider the many complexities arising from case law and various tribunals. With that landscape, any endorsement would come with so many caveats as to be worthless.

I also wouldn't necessarily trust anything HMRC says is "good".

[Jed Clampett]

Having read this article here: https://www.contractoruk.com/news/00...ntractors.html

Instead of HMRC providing a blacklist of dodgy Umbrellas to not use - don't you think HMRC should provide a list of Umbrella companies they have vetted and they approve of - and are on HMRC's safe list and recommend by HMRC?

That way a contractor should be covered if they use an Umbrella HMRC have vetted and approved and recommended as a safe Umbrella company?

Maybe some sort of checking and approval system like ISO 27001 or SOC 2 so the Umbrella is certified as safe to use by HMRC?