The government's and HMRC's botched handling of the rules relating to off-payroll workers (IR35) is likely to completely fuck up the freelance contracting industry.
The FT reports that leading recruitment companies have demanded a delay and rethink to forthcoming UK tax changes that they warn will damage the industry’s growth and increase tax avoidance.
Companies including Adecco, Harvey Nash, Hays, Reed and ManpowerGroup wrote to Chancellor Sajid Javid on Monday urging him to think twice on changes to the rules for off-payroll workers, known as IR35.
Freelancers who bill for their services via a limited company currently assess whether they are employed or self-employed for tax purposes. But from April, all large and medium-sized UK companies will be required to assess the employment status of contractors they use, to tackle what HMRC calls “disguised employment”, where workers and companies avoid paying income tax and national insurance.
HMRC estimates that only one in 10 people in the private sector who should be paying tax under the current IR35 rules are doing so correctly. The reforms are projected to bring in £3bn over the next four years.
The changes will mean hiring companies, and anyone involved in the labour supply chain such as recruitment agencies, will be liable for unpaid tax if HMRC finds a worker has been wrongly classified. Hirers will need to prove they have taken “reasonable care” assessing their contractors, or risk being liable for any shortfall in tax and national insurance.
People, who are not freelancers, may well say "does this matter?".
It will mean that companies and organisations looking for contractors (eg IT specialists etc) will find that the supply dries up.
Ironically organisations such as HMRC rely heavily on such contractors!
Tax does have to be taxing.
HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Unfortunately, HMRC lack intelligent people to find a pragmatic solution to the long-running saga. If they had some staff with a work ethic, or at least common sense, that would be a start.
ReplyDeleteI have personal experience, as a victim, of the HR and management muppets' attempts to pervert the course of justice, in their quest to cover-up their law-breaking in bullying me to the verge of suicide - they couldn't get their story straight with that, what chance do they have at sorting IR35?
Btw - In the case I refer to above, HMRC management and HR, having already destroyed my health (mental breakdown) via bullying, then went on to exploit my vulnerability at that time to drive me out of the organisation, with obvious deleterious consequences. Whilst I was metaphorically on the floor following their vicious & cowardly attack, they continued to relentlessly kick me from afar with harassment and lies. Now that I am back on my feet, albeit with the lingering injuries they inflicted, I fully intend to exploit the gaps in their lies, and their overall misconduct, to ensure justice finally gets done. HMRC are not above the law, nor are they above the truth. There's also a whole other story to tell about the harassment & goading I endured from Stapleton & others...how those monsters could exploit a vulnerable person will shock the most hardened of people. The public need to know the truth about how HMRC treat their own staff, it'll give a clue about their disregard of vulnerable taxpayers too.
1) Congratulations. Your assertion that everyone who works for HMRC is both stupid and lazy is at least an amusing diversion from your usual tedious mantra.
ReplyDelete2) You've never really explained how HMRC continued to persecute AFTER you'd left the department. Feel free to expand.
3) You continue to name people on here while hiding behind anonymity - pretty cowardly.
Please let us know how the police investigation into the law-breaking against you is going. We're all very interested.
Nice try, you stupid coward. hahaha The guilty will be named. If they're uncomfortable with that - tough sh*t, if they couldn't behave when taking a wage from the tax payer, f***ing tough...you know, like we all do, that some of the vermin are unemployable in the real world...
DeleteOn balance I'd rather be a 'stupid coward' than an hysterical, lying, paranoid fantasist.
DeleteYears and years of bleating on here without any specifics or details of complaints to the relevant authorities about the law-breaking against you.
Put up or shut up.
@ 00:31 I don't doubt there is a degree of stupidity to your comments, not to mention goading (trolling). Very happy to be called a "hysterical, lying, paranoid fantasist" by you.
DeleteIf you were a better educated about how HMRC operates, you would understand that it's not a straightforward case of if they've broken the law then the authorities will investigate. As for employment etc law breaches, that's fine, but if the dishonest HMRC people in HR or management (are you one of them?) are prepared to further break the law by covering their tracks (attempting to pervert the course of justice), and pulling numerous procedural stunts, then it's very difficult to advance a legitimate case against them. That does not mean they have done no wrong, sadly.
It's called a denial of justice, and prevents closure. Their corruption needs dealing with. In HMRC, as in life, some will act as an apologist for the corrupt (cowardice), others will stand up to them.
It comes down to character. And integrity.
There is an element of back-tracking here. Many times over the years it has been stated unequivocally on here that there is clear PROOF of criminal law-breaking within HMRC. I am merely asking what has happened to this PROOF when it is presented to the relevant authorities.
DeleteFailure to follow procedure correctly does not necessarily equate to law-breaking. Neither does not getting the result you wanted.
@ 12:02 Make no mistake, there is clear evidence of law-breaking and misconduct by HMRC and some of their staff (current & past). Action will continue be taken to ensure the corrupt HMRC confront the truth.
ReplyDeleteYou're just not getting it. You say "action will CONTINUE to be taken"!?!?!
DeleteI am asking you to confirm what action HAS been taken in the past and what was the result.
Please stop fudging the issue.
Sorry to intrude on this nonsense...back in reality, here is a typical view of current HMRC staff regarding their work environment...this opinion comes from an HMRC employee based at Halifax, West Yorks, and was first posted on Indeed.co.uk
ReplyDelete"Bullying is rife, lazy fat people, very cliquey, 2 faced culture mangement are corrupt, do not trust your manager and they all stick together to stitch you up, they do nothing all day and get paid well for it.from the taxpayer...they are thieves. I wouldnt recommend my worse enemy to work there...don't do it, keep your sanity, always advertising because people keep leaving, full of liars and feminist women who hate men, equality law doesnt seem to be understood either, full of bigots"
Here is another opinion from an HMRC employee based in Scotland: "Staff are treated like a number management are bullys liars and if face doesn't fit they will do whatever they can to make it hard for you to get you out the door theres a reason there always employing"
...and another view from a employee based in Derby: "You may think flexible hours and great leave would be a winner. But the management is shocking and the work culture is terrible. Bad managers are not dealt with and bullying is brushed under the carpet."
There's a theme emerging here...
Isn't our tax authority wonderful. No, actually it's not. It's a workplace which, for all their woke utterances, perpetuates a culture of fear and emotional violence, wrecking the lives of staff in the process. In the end, of course, when public institutions fail to address such a climate, the biggest loser will be the end service user - in this case the taxpayer.
Those with integrity - Please stop fudging the issue.
Hmmmm..... "fat people" and "feminist women" - sounds like an absolute hell-hole. Also, doubt if the opinions expressed are "typical", people who are happy in their job are less likely to post about it.
DeleteOn a serious note, nobody is seriously doubting that some HMRC offices are extremely unpleasant places to work in. Neither is anyone doubting that some managers have been promoted to grades well above their level of competence due to displaying the correct 'behaviours'.
However, this conversation has been about the allegations of criminal law-breaking and the evidence which allegedly exists to prove it. WTF has happened/is happening with this evidence. If it doesn't exist, just admit it.
But feel free to change the subject again, Mr Fudgey.
Spot on , hmrc is full of bigots , grade 6 staff literally taking the piss out of disabled staff . type of scum bags who thrive in the place.
DeleteA Grade 6 mocking disabled staff sounds absolutely horrendous. Could you possibly give more details - otherwise it just sounds like the latest "dog ate my homework" exaggeration.
DeleteFuck the system & work only cash in hand !!! Fuck you government arse licking cunts !!
ReplyDeletethe goverment will always win with arms or by means of papperwork , the only way you beat them is by overturning them https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-legal-way-to-overthrow-the-UK-government
ReplyDeleteThey've absolutely fucked my life up and my career is up the shitter. I've already attempted on my life once and will probably succeed quite soon. it's an absolute fucking shambles. And they say they're not out to get the small guy. That's the ONLY guy they pursue. They're such a bunch of spineless underachieving wankers they can't even identify a genuine contractor from a tax evader so they just assume EVERYONE is, and destroy the fucking market. I'm beyond livid
ReplyDelete