Employment Intermediaries and tax relief for travel and subsistence

14 December 2015

Following confirmation at Autumn Statement 2015 that the government will legislate to prevent workers engaged through employment intermediaries from benefiting from tax relief for home to work travel expenses, draft legislation has now been published for consultation.

The legislation will mean that relief will be restricted for individuals working through personal service companies where the intermediaries’ legislation (IR35) applies, and for individuals working through other employment intermediaries where the worker is under supervision, direction or control in the manner they carry out the work.

Liability for any debt resulting from these measures can be transferred to the director of an employment intermediary, or, where a test of supervision, direction or control is being used, to another relevant party, if that party has misled the employment intermediary by providing a fraudulent document.

The Government has also published a summary of responses following the consultation ‘Employment Intermediaries and Tax Relief for Travel and Subsistence’ published at Summer Budget 2015.

Provided the proposals in the draft legislation are approved by Parliament, the changes will be introduced in Finance Bill 2016 and will come into force on 6 April 2016.