08 February 2024
Forever looming over many payroll professionals is the complex and often confusing off-payroll working rules. While there are no major changes to report, there are a few items that you should be aware of if you handle off-payroll working processes.
Open consultation on PAYE liabilities offsets in cases of non-compliance
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has released draft legislation detailing how offsets will work where tax and National Insurance is paid by both the individual and intermediary.
The consultation is open until 22 February 2024 seeking views from many industry groups including “those who deal with recruitment processes and payroll”.
Off-payroll working (IR35) factsheet
A factsheet detailing the place of tribunals and courts in the off-payroll working process. Included within the factsheet are links to further guidance and webinars on the topic.
Guidelines for Compliance
A large collection of compliance assistance and best practice suggestions has been published in order to guide employers through the complexities of off-payroll working, called the Guidelines for Compliance.
HMRC stresses that these guidelines should be used alongside existing guidance and are not intended to be used in isolation.
The sections covered are:
- Purpose, scope and background
- Training your staff
- Record keeping
- Considering the requirements of a new role
- Considering your off-payroll working population
- What to do if off-payroll working workers are missed
- Contracted out services
- Making status determinations
- Status determination statements
- Client-led disagreement process
- Operating PAYE
- Outsourcing off-payroll working responsibilities
- Internal audit process – periodic reviews
- Next steps – correcting errors, guidance and legislation
Within the next steps section is a link to take a survey giving your opinion on the guidelines. HMRC states they want to use the survey to:
- establish any areas which customers still have trouble understanding
- find out where customers might make changes, after reading the guidelines
- improve future Guidelines for Compliance products.
HMRC chooses not to appeal IR35 battle
After 10 years of disputes in the courts, HMRC has decided not to appeal the First Tier Tax Tribunal decision that Kaye Adams should be deemed outside of the IR35 rules.
Atholl House Productions Ltd v HMRC has been left at this stage and so does not set a legal precedent with a HMRC spokesperson saying to FTadviser “Given this litigation has been ongoing for a number of years and the First Tier Tribunal does not set binding legal precedents, we don't think it would be proportionate to appeal in this case.”
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