Contractors' agencies alerted to imminent reporting requirements

Contractors’ employment agencies have less than a month to make sure they are complying with new reporting rules designed to stamp out false self-employment, the taxman is reminding.

On August 5^th, legislation requires ‘employment intermediaries’ which supply two or more workers to a client without operating PAYE to report details of payments made on a quarterly basis, said HM Revenue & Customs.

The department’s reminder not to miss the August 5^th deadline is sensible, because originally intermediaries such as agencies were told that the deadline to report the details to HMRC was nine months earlier.

But that initial reporting deadline of November 2014 was scrapped and replaced with August 2015, in recognition of the cost, uncertainty and “IT issues” that the new reporting system imposed on businesses and HMRC.

The tax authority said that intermediaries required to make a return must register with HMRC online services and, if in doubt as to whether they need to send a quarterly return, can refer to guidance.

It also says that the intermediary responsible for sending the report should include their full name, address and postcode; the worker’s personal details and the engagement and payment details.

However some employment intermediaries will not need to make a return, because they pass on workers’ details to a different intermediary, who goes on to supply the staff required. It is the intermediary that has the direct contract with the business/client who should make the return to HMRC.

Editor’s Note: Related Reading –

Contractors’ Questions: Why’s employee tax due on self-employment?

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Contractors’ Questions: Are reporting rules for agencies retrospective?