Category Archives: Tax

Additions to ESM4118

Posted on July 28, 2021 by Paul Evans

Industry lawyers Wiggin have been in touch to say that there have been a number of recent additions to HMRC’s “Appendix 1”, i.e. HMRC’s approved list of behind-the-camera roles which can normally be treated as self-employed – otherwise known as ESM4118. … Continue reading →

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Supervision Direction and Control (another IR35 post)

Posted on July 22, 2021 by Paul Evans

There are a few posts on this site about the CEST test, for determining who is included within IR35 (i.e. who is an employee and who isn’t), and it would be wrong to do anything but to acknowledge that HMRC … Continue reading →

Posted in Freelance working, IR35 | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Lord John Hendy QC – The Status of Workers Bill.

Posted on July 19, 2021 by Paul Evans

Lord Hendy’s bill The Status of Workers Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on the 26th May 2021. It is… “A Bill to make provision for the creation of a single status for workers by amending the meaning … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment Contracts, Employment intermediaries, Employment Law and Rights, Employment status, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Gig economy workers, IR35, Personal Service Companies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Calculating Tax and National Insurance

Posted on July 14, 2021 by Paul Evans

When you are self-employed, it is good to know how much tax (and other contributions) you are paying, how to make sure that your tax is fair when you are going to be expected to pay it (so that you … Continue reading →

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How tax forms are completed

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Paul Evans

I’ve had a query from a member about how Self Employed Sole Traders file their tax returns and I thought the answer should be somewhere that everyone can find it. Broadly…. unless you are always PAYE you will need to … Continue reading →

Posted in Freelance working, Personal Service Companies, Tax | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Can someone trading through a PSC claim employment rights from an engager?

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Paul Evans

A very interesting post on AccountingWeb. Among other cases referred to in the article, in 1994, a disgruntled individual, who was providing their services through a limited company or PSC, brought a claim for unfair dismissal. In Catamaran Cruises Ltd … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment Law and Rights, Employment status, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, IR35, Personal Service Companies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Schedule D?

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Paul Evans

Employers accountants routinely refer to people who, for tax purposes, are “Self Employed Sole Traders” as “Schedule D”. This refers to the old “Schedule D” of the schedular system of taxation that was largely re-written by the Tax Law Rewrite … Continue reading →

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‘Work from home’ tax relief

Posted on July 6, 2021 by Paul Evans

Employees who have worked from home during the pandemic but are now returning to offices can still claim tax relief on household expenses for this tax year. HMRC is actually pushing information out about this, specifically targeting people who worked … Continue reading →

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Statutory Sick Pay and freelance working

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Paul Evans

For the purposes of this post, I’m taking the term ‘freelance’ in its broadest form. Many people who are on either short fixed-term contracts, or non-permanent PAYE contracts tend to regard themselves as ‘freelancers’. People who are ‘self-employed’ have few … Continue reading →

Posted in Disability equality, Employment Law and Rights, Equality, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Illness and disability, National Insurance Contributions (NICs), Welfare and benefits | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Understanding National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for the self-employed

Posted on June 29, 2021 by Paul Evans

Employees generally pay higher NICs than the self-employed unless they are very low paid. This is because Class 2 NICs are currently charged at a flat rate of £3.05 per week (2021-2 figures) If you are self-employed, you pay two … Continue reading →

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ESM4130 – Particular Occupations: Entertainment Industry: TV and Radio Presenters (IR35)

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Paul Evans

HMRC have published new tax guidance for TV and Radio presenters – ESM4130. This concept will be familiar to many Bectu members who are covered (or not, as the case may be) by ESM4118 covering ‘behind the camera’ crew.

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IR35 – update

Posted on June 8, 2021 by Paul Evans

As a general update about where we are with IR35, it’s playing out as expected. Some employers, as predicted, are proving to be risk-averse and particularly those who do ‘blanket determinations’ – where employers are making flat judgments based on … Continue reading →

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Employment Status Checker (CEST)

Posted on June 2, 2021 by Paul Evans

If you have concerns about whether your work falls ‘within IR35’ and that your engager is likely to insist that you are paid through the payroll, you will find this status checker tool useful. It’s broadly very useful and helpful … Continue reading →

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Provision of Equipment and self-employed tax status

Posted on May 27, 2021 by Paul Evans

On the ESM4118 list of particular occupations in the entertainment industry – TV and radio workers – behind the camera workers roles etc, normally treated as self-employed, (formerly “the Appendix 1 list”, a number of roles have an important qualification … Continue reading →

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Taxed twice? Workers’ fears of addressing complex employent relationships

Posted on May 26, 2021 by Paul Evans

Just a quick personal observation based on advising members, but also helping family members with personal employment issues… I think everyone overestimates the degree to which workers are actually the robust rational actors that some policy-makers think they are.

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Ceri Stoner of Wiggin LLP on IR35 for Screenskills

Posted on May 26, 2021 by Paul Evans

There’s a useful webinar briefing from February for productions on the application of the IR35 changes from Ceri Stoner of Wiggin LLP on the Screenskills website.

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Britain’s ghost companies – BBC Radio 4 programme.

Posted on May 17, 2021 by Paul Evans

Very interesting BBC Radio 4 programme on the abuse of complex employment intermediaries. The File on Four team, Anna Meisel and Angus Crawford, have written this up here.

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Loan scheme – HMRC embarrassment

Posted on May 13, 2021 by Paul Evans

The Guardian is reporting that HMRC are facing criticism when it was revealed that contractors who worked for them had been using so-called “disguised remuneration” tax avoidance strategies that involved being paid using loans instead of salaries, thereby sidestepping the … Continue reading →

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Blanket determinations and IR35

Posted on May 13, 2021 by Paul Evans

A useful post from Contract Calculator on why blanket determinations on IR35 are a dangerous mistake for engagers to make. Blanket determinations are going to be damaging the industry as well as running contrary to the intentions HMRC have in … Continue reading →

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Kaye Adams (BBC presenter) IR35 case

Posted on May 11, 2021 by Paul Evans

“HMRC is disappointed that the Upper Tribunal has decided that the intermediary rules, also known as IR35, do not apply in this case.” Also this:

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Hall v Lorimer (1993)

Posted on May 11, 2021 by Paul Evans

This is something of a landmark case in which Ian Lorimer went to the court of appeal with assistance from Bectu (he had been a longstanding member of one of Bectu’s constituent unions ACTT) during the late 1980s period that … Continue reading →

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VAT basics for freelancers.

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Paul Evans

A useful primer from Freelance UK.

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The asterisk in ESM4118

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Paul Evans

ESM4118 is the replacement for the old ‘Appendix One’ – a list of TV/film roles that HMRC accepts as being generally carried out by workers who work in a way that qualifies as self-employed for tax purposes. In column 2, … Continue reading →

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Understanding complex intermediary arrangements.

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Paul Evans

A question: How many ‘contingent’ workers who are employed through a complex set of intermediaries understand the arrangements that they are working through?   Just to help myself understand this, and to kick start a conversation about it a while … Continue reading →

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Tony Lennon on IR35 for live events workers

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Paul Evans

Tony Lennon spoke to members of Bectu’s Live Events Network members. It’s behind the member-login on the website under Webinars (IR35 Impacts for Sole Traders & PSCs) but also on YouTube here:  

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Umbrella Companies (and other complex intermediaries)

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Paul Evans

There have been calls, particularly from the education unions, to have some kind of licencing scheme to make sure that ‘Umbrella’ companies (and other intermediaries that sit between a worker and an employer) to be properly regulated. Some unions are … Continue reading →

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IR35 and Self Employed Sole Traders

Posted on April 29, 2021 by Paul Evans

This is one of those posts that comes with an important footnote (see below) that you’re going to need to read before taking any notice of what I say here, but there is an important fact that most of the … Continue reading →

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The ‘nine-month rule’ on self-employed status for engagements in film and TV.

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Paul Evans

This is a useful account of the changes that occured in late 2019 to the Film, Television and Production Industry Guidance Notes. The thing most people noticed about this was the updated list. However, Lesley Furber also notes that the … Continue reading →

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