As we flagged on this blog back in March (post here), a consultation is currently open on implementation of the extension of the IR35 rules on deducting tax and National Insurance contributions at source to medium and large private sector organisations which engage individual contracts via intermediaries. The consultation (which can be found here) closes on 28 May 2019 and so private sector companies who would still like to make their views on the new legislation known should get their responses in now.
HMRC has also issued guidance on what organisations caught by the changes should do to start preparing for them. To summarise HMRC suggests they spend time now:
- Identifying those individuals supplying their services through intermediaries;
- Determining if IR35 will apply to any contracts which expire after 6 April 2020;
- Talking to contractors about whether the rules will apply to them; and
- Putting processes in place to determine whether IR35 will apply in future.
The link to the guidance is here.
Whilst April 2020 may seem a long way off, and the way in which the changes to IR35 will be implemented in the public sector is still not entirely clear, it will be important for organisations to get assessments of whether IR35 applies to individual contractors right. Preparing now will put organisations in the best place when it comes to doing this.
