All News

Ghost contractors and clients have haunted our sector for years, but they’re still easily defeated by the old adage ‘If it seems too good to be true…’

Extreme caution advised, as two schemes with an Option Grant Agreement are characterised as no option unless you like a large tax bill.

Charting the rise in non-compliant umbrella companies out to get contractors -- and how to ensure it’s them, not you, who fall.

Fortunately for my tech career, and probably yours too, looks can be deceiving.

Offset is hopefully on its off-payroll agenda, but the government’s fear of upheaving the labour market (again) will likely preclude fundamental, necessary change.

Alarm raised that no longer being on the taxman’s ‘blacklist’ will be a marketing opportunity too good for copycats to pass up.

A judgment from 2008 which acts as a selling point to use recruitment agency contractors is under threat.

A batch of brollies targeting agencies and workers with freebies are ‘likely engaged in the dubious or downright illegal.'

Hiring body says the IR35 framework needs amending, because it taxes the same income twice, and is now exacerbating skills shortages.

A near plateauing in IT contractor billings coincides with APSCo, REC, Indeed, and KMPG all pointing the finger at Spring Budget.

Renaming the nemesis of small businesses is billed as a way to effect culture change, but not everyone’s convinced.

Help is at hand to make the most out of your annual pension allowance increasing to £60,000.

Workers who jumped into a provider’s partnerships to ‘beat IR35 reform’ could face a Chapter 9 liability from HMRC.

Pay premiums can be unlocked for IT contractors who realise the following actions are key.

Corporation tax hiked since Saturday; dividends stinging from Thursday. Just as many have no choice but to, PSCs are being made to feel some of the pinch.

Status advisers caution contractors that HMRC getting two celebs in the dock confirms off-payroll enforcement to be an A-list priority that’s set to run and run.

The This Morning host who once said ‘There’s nobody more freelance than me’ is found to owe HMRC an estimated £250k for disguised employment at ITV.

Even on the day regulation finally emerges, we’ll still need collective action to win this war.

Tax authority says it might appeal, after experts say losing to Lineker in a ground-breaking case shows HMRC doesn’t understand its own rules.

The FTT finding in favour of the Match of the Day presenter will expose a possibly unrecognised IR35 risk for other partnerships.

Entries have now been sorted, scrutinised and judged by the panel to create impressive shortlists.

A clarification, of sorts, from a former tax inspector invited to make a correction, of sorts.

Contractor accountants fear their annual task of getting limited company directors to act has been made tougher by the chancellor.

Margaret Beels’ four themes are a solid start but it’s enforcement, enforcement, enforcement we need.

Limited companies told that while buying a single MacBook may not be worth the rush, multiple purchases might.

Even the Treasury would be advantaged by something that would benefit brollies, clients, and contractors -- the Single Enforcement Body.

Staffing bosses put on a brave face after Spring Budget leaves the off-payroll rules intact, signalling the continuation of bans and blanketing.   

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.

'The more they earn, the more we can chase them for' is motivating the taxman to target the former England striker, in a court fixture 'nothing to do with IR35.'

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.

Aside from a clash over its importance, an off-payroll resources refresh by HMRC signals the framework is here to stay.

A stop on HMRC doubly taxing the contractor sector is gaining momentum, ahead of the chancellor’s statement a week today.

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.

March 15th might be an opening for HMRC to mend the off-payroll rules, but repeal by the chancellor stands ‘next to no chance.’

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

Chancellor called to intervene after the taxman says he’ll stand by his tool’s results 'as long as it accurately reflects the terms of the engagement.'

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.

Ringing the Revenue is the best response if you’re a contractor who didn’t file or pay before midnight.

Linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone’s husband, a company with clients who died being chased by the taxman is finally 'named and shamed.'

The HM Treasury boss who reinstated IR35 reform audaciously claims to tech entrepreneurs that he’ll back them to the hilt.

Guidance to those intending to flout the 31st deadline is the sort of guidance it pains accountants to give.

‘Miracle workers’ advise the ‘silly monkeys’ how much they’ll owe HMRC if they don’t swing into action before Tuesday.

Sky Sports rugby commentator (not presenter), kicks HMRC’s £695,000 claim of disguised employment into touch.

Former tax inspector flags up where the FTT blew the whistle on the Revenue’s status match-up against the Sky Sports commentator.

Individuals and companies are paying the price for an under-resourced taxman, who simply switches off when things get too busy.

Government accused of gross negligence by 'wilfully ignoring’ risk-to-life alerts while trying to prioritise justifying an ‘immoral policy.’

Big fear of the 12 months to come is IR35, indicating that with the rules introduced almost two years ago, it’s not a case of 'the devil you know.'

Following the off-payroll shambles, who knows what the next Budget holds. But…

MPs won’t be the only ones waiting to hear how it is that ‘HMRC manifestly failed to do its duty on an industrial scale’ with agency workers who used umbrella companies.

What contractors who want to move this year need to understand about lenders, the economy and the market.

An administration that has ‘wholly failed to address issues plaguing the contract workforce,’ narrowly gets the benefit of the doubt from experts.

Treasury minister’s suggestion that the two IR35 reform U-turns were a cost-free exercise is deemed unreliable.

FCSA: Any and all reasonable evidence of unlawful or underhanded practice will be looked into, alongside the companies we’re already investigating.

The Mainpay ruling reinforces ‘If it seems too good to be true, then it invariably is.’ That's now even more the case, with no SEB.

Contractors’ accountants believe the government is right to delay MTD ITSA until 2026, but they say quite a few wrongs remain.

Government called to spell out what it will do with umbrellas, if it won’t regulate them via the SEB.

Delays on pre-Christmas hires makes January ‘the big test,’ but growth in IT contractor demand is already on the up again.

Badly let down by his accountants, the Sky Sports pundit and former rugby star won’t even get to tackle the taxman.

A technically lawful supply of labour (for now anyway) ‘would only prolong and inflame tensions’ on trains, in the NHS, and at schools.

Dangerous to the truth: a mass of questionable statics is unquestionably designed to give the taxman a pat on the back.

Taxman’s short-term impact report on the off-payroll rules receives short shrift from advisers to contractors.

Thirty days never felt so tight -- to pay up within, or get advice and lodge an appeal by.

A self-initiated clean-up, supported by agencies, is this year crucial for the economy and the umbrella sector.

As 2022 draws to a close, the REC takes a deep dive into hiring trends in the technology sector.

A status expert’s reflections on 12 months that will live long in the memory – for all the wrong reasons.