IR35 Rules

A confirmation of arrangements letter from your client can be used to back-up your IR35 position with HMRC should it be challenged, as it confirms how you perform your contract duties in reality.

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.

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.

One of the most important employment status factors is the mutuality of obligation. Here we explain what ‘MOO’ means in the context of the IR35 legislation.

There is a common misconception that contract duration automatically has a bearing on IR35 status. Here, Martyn Valentine looks at why other factors are more likely to be significant than contract length in determining employment status.

To ensure that any contracts you undertake are not deemed inside IR35, you need to be able to demonstrate that you are not a disguised employee, but truly working in the manner of a small business owner. In other words, can you show that you are ‘in business on your own account’?

There is a huge amount of information available about IR35 and how to protect yourself. But what happens if you are selected for an investigation? How does an IR35 enquiry work now and what should you expect if HMRC contacts you regarding IR35 compliance?

The main factors used to establish whether or not an individual’s contract is caught by IR35 – the most important being Control, Substitution and Mutuality of Obligation. How to ensure that you’re not caught.

With more than six months since the private sector off-payroll (IR35) reforms were implemented, we look at the impact on contractors and how they can work both inside and outside IR35 compliantly via a dual solution.

Under the off-payroll rules, from April 2021, private sector clients are responsible for determining a contractor’s IR35 status. The decision must be contained within a Status Determination Statement (SDS), alongside the client’s reasoning.