Contracting News

His budget wasn’t the time or place, but putting an end to HMRC’s scandalous loan charge must be the job of Jeremy Hunt -- or his successor, in this or the next government.

New figures indicating the off-payroll figures will rake in £6billion from an invariably over the moon HMRC are damning.

Suspiciously timed, a 12-months-old report on the Single Enforcement Body surfaces to say the SEB will hopefully be established soon.

The can’t-pays, won’t-pays and dodgy brolly directors who went straight -- all on the chancellor’s new list of HMRC targets.

Chancellor Hunt’s pension boost set to propel fifty-somethings back into contracting, even on brolly roles caught by the off-payroll rules.

No IR35 mention, no SEB and no corporation tax U-turn means contractors must cling to pensions changes, R&D credits and energy bill help as the few positives from the chancellor.

Jeremy Hunt delivers his ‘Growth’ Budget, but offers very few pluses or minuses to contractors' tax and finances.

Freelancer Financials shares its mortgage borrower wishlist ahead of chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s imminent statement.

The Single Enforcement Body (or the Treasury’s response to its evidence-call), should factor in the following if it is to succeed.

Comments in a Whitehall meeting from the minister responsible for umbrella companies revive the prospect of the SEB being set up from Wednesday.

There’s a lot you can do to help, chancellor told, as IT contractor demand-growth plummets at a pace not seen since coronavirus.

Hunt can spare the overburdened tax tribunals a job on Wednesday. If not, he’ll just add to the off-payroll problems storing up for the future.

No less than ten accounting bodies have found fault with the Revenue, but the UK’s tax overlord is unlikely to even reply.

An umbrella market devoid of the Single Enforcement Body means it falls to flexible workers to cover themselves.

A general election is too far away for the contractor sector’s hopes and dreams to get realised by the chancellor next Wednesday.

At their most confident since covid, IT ventures are mostly expecting sales to rise, while other companies fall or flounder.

Ten ways to turn UK hiring processes from among the slowest in the developed world to the fastest, globally, are now in front of the chancellor.

Now showing Alpha Republic, Canopaye and Integra Resourcing, the taxman’s blacklist is an official resource which is set to run and run.

Small steps from chancellor Hunt could go a long way to giving enterprising companies the glimmer of hope they deserve.

Updated brolly explainers from the taxman are a start, but the government ought to do more at Budget 2023.

It may be broken in the eyes of many, but the UK’s status framework is being copied by nations trying to tighten up on disguised employment.

Rumours, concerns and confusion. The boss of a contractor accountancy firm accused of being an MSCP clears it all up, and has his say.

The chancellor is potentially right to look at the masters of legacy technology to help solve an age-old problem.

Biz dev specialists (and other contractors) are welcome at my March 7th masterclass on putting LinkedIn Sales Navigator to work for your company.

Looking back, then looking forward with a readiness to make adjustments to keep more of what you earn, is a task for right now.

With ‘pretty much every business saying the skills system in Britain isn’t working,’ the chancellor must act on March 15th.

Referrals to the Independent Office for Police Conduct following 10 taxpayers taking their own lives all got returned to HMRC for its internal investigation.

Murmurs from inside the BoE indicate that if we’re not at the ‘new normal’ already, we’re not far away from it.

Government departments, taxpayers funding departments; and contractors making sure departments are secure -- all being let down by the worst ever performance.

Brolly bosses back the taxman for his uncharacteristic use of plain English.

Technology is driving a Deliveroo-approach to hiring. But whether it’s ghosting or catfishing, don’t put up with it.

Even the tool of the moment prefers humans to machines, confirming that algorithm is no substitute for a professional adviser’s experience.

After nearly falling flat in November, IT contracting passes the ‘test month’ of January by adding three index points.

It’s not just during covid that contractors and other dynamos who work for themselves have been excluded by this government.

The government binning IR35 reform, only to dust it off a few weeks later, has made long hours of knowledge-sharing worth it.

Budget speculation begins as to what it contains (such as a rise in the VAT threshold), and what the opposition might do differently.

Talk from the chancellor of ‘regulatory flexibility provided by Brexit’ will seem as fantastical to many IT contractors as the shores they once visited.

In the SEB’s absence refer to guidance, say officials, even if understanding it does require ‘fingers in three places at once.’

‘It’s time to explore alternative strategies – like going after rogue umbrella companies.’

How 70,000 job cuts in a single month should sit with computer freelancers on this side of the pond.