Agent's contract Indemnity

[MPwannadecentincome]

I've not contracted through an Agent before so....

My agency contract (not signed yet) asks me to indemnify them against any Losses... by reason of any proceedings, claims or demands by any third party (including .... HMRC .... pursuant to the IR35 Legislation ..... Chapter 9 .... section 688A of the Income Tax Act 2003 ....)

I think Professional Indemnity Insurance will protect my Ltd Co against some such claims but how do I protect the Ltd Co or myself from claims made by HMRC to the agency? I can see that QDOS and PCG have some schemes to assist if HMRC investigate the Ltd co or my tax affairs but do those cover against claims made to an Agent?

TIA

[malvolio]

I've not contracted through an Agent before so....

My agency contract (not signed yet) asks me to indemnify them against any Losses... by reason of any proceedings, claims or demands by any third party (including .... HMRC .... pursuant to the IR35 Legislation ..... Chapter 9 .... section 688A of the Income Tax Act 2003 ....)

I think Professional Indemnity Insurance will protect my Ltd Co against some such claims but how do I protect the Ltd Co or myself from claims made by HMRC to the agency? I can see that QDOS and PCG have some schemes to assist if HMRC investigate the Ltd co or my tax affairs but do those cover against claims made to an Agent?

TIA

PCG membership comes with professional representation if you get into an IR35 tax case ( and Plus covers any tax case) so providing you're careful there won't be any financial losses. However, the whole point of your Ltd Co is that it is liable for those tax losses, they will never reach the agency. So either ignore the clause as meaningless or ask that it be removed since it is meaningless.

Better still, get a proper professional review from Bauer and Cotterell or similar. And do some reading up on IR35 before you get really confused.

[BrilloPad]

Don't sign it. You are way better off with no income whatsoever. Play hardball.

[Wanderer]

My agency contract (not signed yet) asks me to indemnify them against any Losses... by reason of any proceedings, claims or demands by any third party (including .... HMRC .... pursuant to the IR35 Legislation ..... Chapter 9 .... section 688A of the Income Tax Act 2003 ....)

Make sure it's your company that provides the indemnity and that you are not being asked to provide a personal guarantee. You definitely want to get the contract professionally reviewed and ask them to comment about that clause. I think you'll find that it's just them trying to cover their arses though and not much to worry about.