3 ms·

IR35 is entirely to do with disguised employment and was designed to prevent employers making their employee redundant and hiring them back at what initially ap

IR35 is entirely to do with disguised employment and was designed to prevent employers making their employee redundant and hiring them back at what initially appears to be a much better wage, but with no employer NI liability, no holiday pay and no employment rights. While this does impact the common-or-garden IT contractor, it protects the ‘self employed’ nursery worker as well. Many companies, including the government, employ contractors when they ought to be employing employees on fixed contracts. Once you start factoring umbrella companies, limited companies and all the employer liability, unless you’re really expensive there’s not a great deal of benefit to be had these days.

nvarsj 7y ago
This isn't accurate as far as I know. IR35 was introduced by the Labour government specifically targeting PSCs, many of which include IT contractors, who Labour claimed were avoiding taxes. While there is a lot of accuracy to this (disguised employment via a limited company has been a rampant problem in the IT industry), the fact is it is targeting specifically one of the few ways for a middle class person to escape the income tax trap. There is a lot of systematic tax avoidance in the UK that is entirely ignored by the government. Much of London's service economy is driven by such wealth management schemes. Consider for example the network of crown territories which the wealthy use to avoid paying taxes (as, e.g. the Panama papers showed even David Cameron benefiting from this). Why doesn't the UK crack down on these mass tax avoidance loopholes used by the wealthiest? What about the policies propping up a property market that is impossible to get into for my generation, and supports the wealthiest in the country (including most of the Royal family). Why do leaseholds exist? It feels like the middle class are truly hated upon in the UK. Labour thinks anyone who makes over 60k is "super wealthy" and should be heavily taxed. Tories on the flip side focus their support on the wealthiest and increase taxes specifically for the middle class only.

nvarsj 7y ago

This isn't accurate as far as I know. IR35 was introduced by the Labour government specifically targeting PSCs, many of which include IT contractors, who Labour claimed were avoiding taxes. While there is a lot of accuracy to this (disguised employment via a limited company has been a rampant problem in the IT industry), the fact is it is targeting specifically one of the few ways for a middle class person to escape the income tax trap. There is a lot of systematic tax avoidance in the UK that is entirely ignored by the government. Much of London's service economy is driven by such wealth management schemes. Consider for example the network of crown territories which the wealthy use to avoid paying taxes (as, e.g. the Panama papers showed even David Cameron benefiting from this). Why doesn't the UK crack down on these mass tax avoidance loopholes used by the wealthiest? What about the policies propping up a property market that is impossible to get into for my generation, and supports the wealthiest in the country (including most of the Royal family). Why do leaseholds exist? It feels like the middle class are truly hated upon in the UK. Labour thinks anyone who makes over 60k is "super wealthy" and should be heavily taxed. Tories on the flip side focus their support on the wealthiest and increase taxes specifically for the middle class only.