A contractor has won an employment rights claim against HMRC, having been placed ‘inside IR35’ and forced onto her recruitment agency’s payroll. She successfully claimed over £4,000 in unpaid holiday pay.

HMRC has provoked the contracting community further by admitting that its online employment status tool (CEST) does not account for the Mutuality of Obligation (MOO), which is often cited as a key factor in IR35 case law.

For a relatively small outlay, a professional contract review service will analyse your contracts to ensure that you comply with IR35 – both in terms of your contract wording, but also the ‘working practices’ you undertake at your client site.

The Government has launched its long-awaited consultation into ‘off-payroll working’ (IR35) in the private sector.

A contractor won a key IR35 case against HMRC this week, which casts further doubt on the taxman’s ability to accurately recognise IR35 status.

Although the Chancellor didn’t mention IR35 in his Spring Statement speech, the Government’s written statement published shortly after suggests that an extension of the public sector off payroll rules to the private sector is still on the cards.

To protect yourself against IR35, you need to be sure that the wording of your contracts (and the way you actually carry out your contract work for the client) show that you are genuinely ‘self employed’. Here we show where you can download a sample contract template.

Ever since the Government first announced its intention to introduce ‘off payroll’ rules within public sector, the inevitable question has been asked – will these changes be extended to the private sector?