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Articles, blogs, pieces of interest on IR35 reform

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    #11
    so, in circumstances, say, your contract ends in February and you're fully paid up in March, your client offers you an extension but says its inside IR35 (presumably because they are risk-averse) so you turn it down. What's the likelihood this would trigger an investigation into your past contract? I mean, in this scenario, does walking away get you off the hook?

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      #12
      Originally posted by oliverson View Post
      so, in circumstances, say, your contract ends in February and you're fully paid up in March, your client offers you an extension but says its inside IR35 (presumably because they are risk-averse) so you turn it down. What's the likelihood this would trigger an investigation into your past contract? I mean, in this scenario, does walking away get you off the hook?
      The likelihood it triggers an investigation? None. Not this event alone. They don't know what you are turning down and what you aren't. They just look at your taxes. You don't declare your actions to them.

      But does walking away get you off the hook? No. There is the ever present danger they can open an investigation in to the old contract using the rules in place during the contract, just as they can and do right now. Nothing has changed there.
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        #13
        Originally posted by jamesbrown View Post
        Cool

        FWIW, I don't think this would come to light until an investigation were opened and resolved, so it's probably far too early and such information is unlikely to reach the public domain.

        I would always place money on the interpretation that is most strict and most literal and most beneficial to HMRC, while consistent with the law.
        I agree that a literal interpretation would perhaps gather more tax, but I'm struggling with the effect that exercise would have.
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          #14
          Originally posted by webberg View Post
          I agree that a literal interpretation would perhaps gather more tax, but I'm struggling with the effect that exercise would have.
          It would increase the immediate tax, yes, and it would increase the pool of individuals to investigate, i.e. the size of "the list" of those whose payments are being treated as inside. It might not be an unreasonable assumption that some of those changing their status *and* those exiting their arrangements to avoid a change of status (but without realising that the determination is based on the timing of payments made, not work done) could be worried about their arrangements, for example. However, you could also place this in the bucket of "HMRC are not going to focus on a change in status, but are forward-looking". Personally, I don't believe that either, but perhaps I'm a dreadful cynic.

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            #15
            Really don't think HMRC need to add people to a list that is already more than they can handle and the marginal gain for them (a few months worth of salary that may have escaped a few percentage points of tax) is not worth the resource.

            I see the investigation initially being at client co level.

            "You have designated all contractors born between January and June as inside IR35, but those born in the second half of the year as outside IR35. Perhaps you can explain that?"

            Three/four/five/ten years later client co has to concede that actually all those born in October should be inside IR35, nice little extrapolation by HMRC and there is a few million added to the coffers.

            I know I'm not cynical enough.
            Best Forum Adviser & Forum Personality of the Year 2018.

            (No, me neither).

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              #16
              Originally posted by webberg View Post
              already more than they can handle
              Right, but as you say, this will mostly be tackled at ClientCo level in future, not w/r to individual contractors. Any information on individual contractors will be aggregated. I am not saying that they will have a one-dimensional list called the HMRC IR35 ****list Think of it more as a massive multi-dimensional dataset to mine. Think of them as Ferengi, chasing gold-pressed latinum, and they've now discovered a new mining technique. Profit!

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