Originally written by Jill Bottomley on Small Business
Last week’s long-awaited Supreme Court ruling in the Uber case has far reaching ramifications for any small business that engages self-employed individuals, in all sectors.
Drivers, engaged by Uber on a self-employed basis, brought a claim that they were not in fact self-employed; instead, they claimed they were “workers” and were therefore entitled to statutory pay, compliant with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for all “working” time. Included in the claim were rights to statutory benefits, such as paid holidays.
And the court has ruled in the drivers’ favour, potentially costing Uber up to £20,000 per driver.
Uber’s defence was that its arrangement with drivers was typical of the private hire or “gig-economy” industry.
However the implications of the ruling may extend to any which currently engages self-employed consultants or independent contractors.
>See also: What are the benefits of agile working? – a small business guide
The crux of the issue
Many would imagine that a someone found to be a “worker” in this case would be classed as an employee, not as self-employed. However, confusion on these categorisations is where the crux of the whole issue lies.
A worker is not the same as an employee. The status can best
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Over half of self-employed don’t even know what IR35 is
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Over half of the self-employed in Britain don’t know what IR35 is, despite being the people being most affected by it, according to research.
HMRC wants to bring thousands of freelance contractors who are effectively full-time employees within PAYE, in an effort to tackle what the taxman sees is “disguised employment”. Responsibility for assessing the tax status of self-employed contractors is due to shift from the contractor to the company that hires them.
The legislation, which has been heavily criticised by tax experts and business as being poorly conceived, badly implemented by HMRC and could reduce a worker’s net income by up to 25 per cent, is set to roll out in April 2020.
Accounting software provider FreeAgent surveyed 2,000 self-employed workers about small business taxation.
>See also: Small businesses call for HMRC to delay IR35 tax change
IR35 review
The Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party (SNP) have all pledged to review IR35 – although only the Lib Dems and SNP explicitly committed to a review in their manifesto.
Shadow small business minister Bill Esterson went further, announcing Labour would scrap IR35 being extended to the private sector before backtracking.
At the weekend, Chancellor Sajid Javid confirmed