Time To Say Goodbye To IR35?

Those within the contractor marketplace are today rejoicing after the newly formed coalition government said they would review the IR35 legislation.

In the Coalition’s full programme for Government, published yesterday (20th May) the Government declares it will:

“Review IR35 as part of a wholesale review of all small business taxation, and seek to replace it with simpler measures that prevent tax avoidance but do not place undue administrative burdens or uncertainty on the self employed, or restrict labour market flexibility.”

The PCG were established to fight the introduction of IR35 and in a statement on their website, John Brazier, Managing Director of PCG said;

“We are delighted that the new Coalition Government made this commitment to review IR35 as a priority only days after taking power. For the last 10 years PCG has campaigned for honesty and fairness when dealing with the UK’s 1.4 million contractors and freelance workers. With the end of the iniquitous IR35 we have the opportunity to achieve fairness.

Chris Bryce, Chairman of PCG said:

“Over the last few months the PCG team has had a series of meetings with the Conservative and the Liberal Democrat shadow front bench teams. We are delighted our message was heard and action taken.

The PCG work hard advising the Government where and when they are needed and provide a voice for their 20,000 members.

Contracting is a growing and valuable part of the UK economy and it is great that the Government appear now to appreciate this.

Dave Chaplin, CEO of Contractor Calculator did warn contractors not to celebrate too much yet until details of the review and what the new rules will be have been revealed. He is concerned that greater clarity over a contractors’ status might come at the expense of more contractors paying more tax.

Independent Contractor Services (ICS) recently added a page on the website dedicated to help explain IR35 to contractors and recruiters alike. Click here to view the page.