Vanessa Pearson (Ely)

Businesses may be hoping they can hold their annual Christmas parties this month. Providing the event is annual, open to all employees and the total cost, including VAT, is less than £150 per person (including non employee guest attendees), this will be a non-taxable benefit in kind (ie free of PAYE tax and National Insurance…

HRMC continue their campaign against broadcasters, with another successful case against former Sky presenter Dave Clark. Mr Clark presented and commentated on professional darts tournaments, and tried to argue his company’s relationship to Sky was one of self-employment.   His appeal has been rejected, with almost all the usual “badges of trade” having failed. Sky…

One of the ways government helped businesses in 2020 was to allow them to defer paying VAT liabilities due between March and June that year. Those taking advantage of this had until 31 March 2021 to pay. In September 2020, the Chancellor announced the VAT deferral payment scheme. Instead of paying in full by 31…

The proposed new rules apply regarding who determines IR35 status for freelancers hired by medium and large companies are imminent. Our Brief Guide will help find out how this affects you and what you can do: A Brief Guide to Off-Payroll Working Blog entry by: Vanessa Pearson

The new private sector off-payroll rules are due to start from 6 April 2021 and HMRC have published their latest guidance – here.   The changes move the responsibility for determining a contractor’s IR35 status from the worker’s personal service company to the end client engaging them, where the end client is a medium/large business.…

As a response to COVID-19, earlier this year the Government announced a temporary extension to the filing deadline of certain documents that are filed at Companies House. Private companies whose annual accounts filing deadline fell between 27 June 2020 and 5 April 2021 were given an additional three months to prepare and file their accounts.…

Only days after Budget 2020 confirmed that IR35 reforms to the private sector would go ahead, the changes have been postponed until 6 April 2021. Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Steve Barclay MP, confirmed “This is a deferral and not a cancellation”. Amongst the unintended consequences of this legislation, the lack of employment rights for…

There are less than two months to go until the proposed new rules apply regarding who determines IR35 status for freelancers hired by medium and large companies. Our Brief Guide will help find out how this affects you and what you can do   A Brief Guide to Off-payroll Working_Feb 2020

Those personal service companies working in the private sector (referred to, variously, as freelancers, consultants or contractors) should now be aware that new tax rules will apply to them with effect from 6-Apr-20.  These rules, off-payroll working, aim to finally clamp down on the abuse of the Inland Revenue Press Release number 35 tax rules…

As the planned changes to who determines IR35 status are fast approaching, contractors would be well advised to review their contracts on HMRC’s updated CEST (Check Employment Status for Tax) tool. Having provided answers to questions regarding substitution, control and nature of the work, the updated tool will give HMRC’s view of the workers employment…