Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The self-employed and small business owners should pay as much tax as the employed, influential think-tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies argues.
The current tax system does not really work for anybody, says the IFS in its report published today. The self-employed pay National Insurance and income tax at lower levels than their employed counterparts – often when they are doing the same job for companies.
The government is losing £15bn in tax revenue annually through the self-employed paying less tax, said the IFS.
>See also: You should file your tax return by January 31, despite HMRC extension
“There is a large, unjustified and problematic bias against employment and labour incomes and in favour of business ownership,” said the report. “The differential tax rates create inefficiency, unfairness, complexity and revenue loss.”
The IFS report said that for a job earning £40,000, a full-time employee could pay up to £4,300 more in tax than if the same work was done by someone with their own company.
And if you’re a self-employed partner in the financial services industry on a £308,000 average salary, you pay £20,000 less tax each year than someone doing the same job as a full-time employee.
Tax policy