#acoot

Many contractors think that they can save themselves from IR35 investigations by simply closing down the company that’s causing problems. The common notion is that closing down a company will mean that HMRC doesn’t have the power to investigate when the company isn’t there any more. However, there are some problems even though this escape from IR35 seems somewhat logical.

The fact is that when you apply to you apply with Companies House to strike off your company, the Registrar will take up to three months to remove the company from register. Meanwhile, the Registrar will be obliged to inform all interested parties of such striking off. If there are no interested parties and no pending litigation, the Registrar will proceed with striking off procedure and the company will start to exist. Since there is a three-month period and a notice is sent to all interested parties, there is rarely any chance that HMRC will not react and investigate your company affairs before Registrar could close it down after three months.

The Registrar is obliged to publish notice of a company’s request for striking off. This notice is published in official gazette. The parties that have some kind of interest or want to object this stirking off will be able to raise their concerns after seeing the notice.

The official gazette for companies registered in England and Wales is London Gazette the official gazette for companies registered in Scotland is the Edinburgh Gazette. The Belfast Gazette serves as the official gazette for companies registered in Northern Ireland.

Since the Registrar has to wait for 3 months before finally striking off the company, HMRC can react within this time. HMRC can even restore a company even when it has closed if there are PAYE arrears that still need to be inquired. However, in practice HMRC doesn’t intervene after the Registrar strikes off a company after 3 months have passed since the initial application by the company directors. Historically, HMRC has never taken this route.

HMRC can recover PAYE debt after it satisfied two conditions. The first condition requires that PAYE arrears exist due to an error made in good faith. The second condition requires HMRC to establish that employee has received relevant payment despite having the information about employer’s failure to deduct tax from taxable payments.

Many contractors think that they can save themselves from IR35 investigations by simply closing down the company that’s causing problems. The common notion is that closing down a company will mean that HMRC doesn’t have the power to investigate when the company isn’t there any more. However, there are some problems even though this escape from IR35 seems somewhat logical.

The fact is that when you apply to you apply with Companies House to strike off your company, the Registrar will take up to three months to remove the company from register. Meanwhile, the Registrar will be obliged to inform all interested parties of such striking off. If there are no interested parties and no pending litigation, the Registrar will proceed with striking off procedure and the company will start to exist. Since there is a three-month period and a notice is sent to all interested parties, there is rarely any chance that HMRC will not react and investigate your company affairs before Registrar could close it down after three months.

The Registrar is obliged to publish notice of a company’s request for striking off. This notice is published in official gazette. The parties that have some kind of interest or want to object this stirking off will be able to raise their concerns after seeing the notice.

The official gazette for companies registered in England and Wales is London Gazette the official gazette for companies registered in Scotland is the Edinburgh Gazette. The Belfast Gazette serves as the official gazette for companies registered in Northern Ireland.

Since the Registrar has to wait for 3 months before finally striking off the company, HMRC can react within this time. HMRC can even restore a company even when it has closed if there are PAYE arrears that still need to be inquired. However, in practice HMRC doesn’t intervene after the Registrar strikes off a company after 3 months have passed since the initial application by the company directors. Historically, HMRC has never taken this route.

HMRC can recover PAYE debt after it satisfied two conditions. The first condition requires that PAYE arrears exist due to an error made in good faith. The second condition requires HMRC to establish that employee has received relevant payment despite having the information about employer’s failure to deduct tax from taxable payments.

Many contractors think that they can save themselves from IR35 investigations by simply closing down the company that’s causing problems. The common notion is that closing down a company will mean that HMRC doesn’t have the power to investigate when the company isn’t there any more. However, there are some problems even though this escape from IR35 seems somewhat logical.

The fact is that when you apply to you apply with Companies House to strike off your company, the Registrar will take up to three months to remove the company from register. Meanwhile, the Registrar will be obliged to inform all interested parties of such striking off. If there are no interested parties and no pending litigation, the Registrar will proceed with striking off procedure and the company will start to exist. Since there is a three-month period and a notice is sent to all interested parties, there is rarely any chance that HMRC will not react and investigate your company affairs before Registrar could close it down after three months.

The Registrar is obliged to publish notice of a company’s request for striking off. This notice is published in official gazette. The parties that have some kind of interest or want to object this stirking off will be able to raise their concerns after seeing the notice.

The official gazette for companies registered in England and Wales is London Gazette the official gazette for companies registered in Scotland is the Edinburgh Gazette. The Belfast Gazette serves as the official gazette for companies registered in Northern Ireland.

Since the Registrar has to wait for 3 months before finally striking off the company, HMRC can react within this time. HMRC can even restore a company even when it has closed if there are PAYE arrears that still need to be inquired. However, in practice HMRC doesn’t intervene after the Registrar strikes off a company after 3 months have passed since the initial application by the company directors. Historically, HMRC has never taken this route.

HMRC can recover PAYE debt after it satisfied two conditions. The first condition requires that PAYE arrears exist due to an error made in good faith. The second condition requires HMRC to establish that employee has received relevant payment despite having the information about employer’s failure to deduct tax from taxable payments.

Many contractors think that they can save themselves from IR35 investigations by simply closing down the company that’s causing problems. The common notion is that closing down a company will mean that HMRC doesn’t have the power to investigate when the company isn’t there any more. However, there are some problems even though this escape from IR35 seems somewhat logical.

The fact is that when you apply to you apply with Companies House to strike off your company, the Registrar will take up to three months to remove the company from register. Meanwhile, the Registrar will be obliged to inform all interested parties of such striking off. If there are no interested parties and no pending litigation, the Registrar will proceed with striking off procedure and the company will start to exist. Since there is a three-month period and a notice is sent to all interested parties, there is rarely any chance that HMRC will not react and investigate your company affairs before Registrar could close it down after three months.

The Registrar is obliged to publish notice of a company’s request for striking off. This notice is published in official gazette. The parties that have some kind of interest or want to object this stirking off will be able to raise their concerns after seeing the notice.

The official gazette for companies registered in England and Wales is London Gazette the official gazette for companies registered in Scotland is the Edinburgh Gazette. The Belfast Gazette serves as the official gazette for companies registered in Northern Ireland.

Since the Registrar has to wait for 3 months before finally striking off the company, HMRC can react within this time. HMRC can even restore a company even when it has closed if there are PAYE arrears that still need to be inquired. However, in practice HMRC doesn’t intervene after the Registrar strikes off a company after 3 months have passed since the initial application by the company directors. Historically, HMRC has never taken this route.

HMRC can recover PAYE debt after it satisfied two conditions. The first condition requires that PAYE arrears exist due to an error made in good faith. The second condition requires HMRC to establish that employee has received relevant payment despite having the information about employer’s failure to deduct tax from taxable payments.

Many contractors think that they can save themselves from IR35 investigations by simply closing down the company that’s causing problems. The common notion is that closing down a company will mean that HMRC doesn’t have the power to investigate when the company isn’t there any more. However, there are some problems even though this escape from IR35 seems somewhat logical.

The fact is that when you apply to you apply with Companies House to strike off your company, the Registrar will take up to three months to remove the company from register. Meanwhile, the Registrar will be obliged to inform all interested parties of such striking off. If there are no interested parties and no pending litigation, the Registrar will proceed with striking off procedure and the company will start to exist. Since there is a three-month period and a notice is sent to all interested parties, there is rarely any chance that HMRC will not react and investigate your company affairs before Registrar could close it down after three months.

The Registrar is obliged to publish notice of a company’s request for striking off. This notice is published in official gazette. The parties that have some kind of interest or want to object this stirking off will be able to raise their concerns after seeing the notice.

The official gazette for companies registered in England and Wales is London Gazette the official gazette for companies registered in Scotland is the Edinburgh Gazette. The Belfast Gazette serves as the official gazette for companies registered in Northern Ireland.

Since the Registrar has to wait for 3 months before finally striking off the company, HMRC can react within this time. HMRC can even restore a company even when it has closed if there are PAYE arrears that still need to be inquired. However, in practice HMRC doesn’t intervene after the Registrar strikes off a company after 3 months have passed since the initial application by the company directors. Historically, HMRC has never taken this route.

HMRC can recover PAYE debt after it satisfied two conditions. The first condition requires that PAYE arrears exist due to an error made in good faith. The second condition requires HMRC to establish that employee has received relevant payment despite having the information about employer’s failure to deduct tax from taxable payments.

Many contractors think that they can save themselves from IR35 investigations by simply closing down the company that’s causing problems. The common notion is that closing down a company will mean that HMRC doesn’t have the power to investigate when the company isn’t there any more. However, there are some problems even though this escape from IR35 seems somewhat logical.

The fact is that when you apply to you apply with Companies House to strike off your company, the Registrar will take up to three months to remove the company from register. Meanwhile, the Registrar will be obliged to inform all interested parties of such striking off. If there are no interested parties and no pending litigation, the Registrar will proceed with striking off procedure and the company will start to exist. Since there is a three-month period and a notice is sent to all interested parties, there is rarely any chance that HMRC will not react and investigate your company affairs before Registrar could close it down after three months.

The Registrar is obliged to publish notice of a company’s request for striking off. This notice is published in official gazette. The parties that have some kind of interest or want to object this stirking off will be able to raise their concerns after seeing the notice.

The official gazette for companies registered in England and Wales is London Gazette the official gazette for companies registered in Scotland is the Edinburgh Gazette. The Belfast Gazette serves as the official gazette for companies registered in Northern Ireland.

Since the Registrar has to wait for 3 months before finally striking off the company, HMRC can react within this time. HMRC can even restore a company even when it has closed if there are PAYE arrears that still need to be inquired. However, in practice HMRC doesn’t intervene after the Registrar strikes off a company after 3 months have passed since the initial application by the company directors. Historically, HMRC has never taken this route.

HMRC can recover PAYE debt after it satisfied two conditions. The first condition requires that PAYE arrears exist due to an error made in good faith. The second condition requires HMRC to establish that employee has received relevant payment despite having the information about employer’s failure to deduct tax from taxable payments.

There were 192 inquiries about IR35 status in the last tax year (2013-2014) and taxman yielded a total of £430,000 from these inquiries. If we compare these stats with the previous yields, we will clearly notice that the number of inquiries drop only by a little while the yield drops by half from 2012-2013. Overall, IR35 inquiries brought in 61% less yield that the yield last year.

Despite changes happening to IR35 legislation and reduced output for the taxman, the IR35 is going to be with us for a quite a long time. So there is no better way out than to prepare for it by improving your prospects so that you can face the situation if HMRC come knocking doors of your business.

If you think you are outside IR35, be ready to prove it

If you think that you are outside IR35, you should be ready to prove this fact. You will need to collect different type of evidence that will show that your business is outside IR35. Additionally, you can have your contract reviewed from a professional so that you can include the review in your business practices. This will help you follow the right practices and you will be able to collect evidence that will be handy when HMRC comes knocking at your doors.

If your contract review turns out to be positive, you should keep its record safe so that you can include it in your evidence in case of an HMRC inquiry and prove that you are a genuine business.

A business insurance can help

When HMRC investigates your business, a business insurance is going to prove a great help. You should consider taking out a business insurance especially the personal indemnity insurance and you will have another factor on HMRC’s business entity test in your favor.

Although HMRC has always dismissed the factor that business insurance contributes to determine IR35 status, the new legislation has changed this scenario. Now a business insurance is as much a factor of business entity test as much is the substitution and contract review.

Business insurance doesn’t cost a fortune. You can buy full range of policies around £20 a month. Insurance at this cost shouldn’t be a problem especially when you weigh the cost against the benefits of taking out an insurance.

Substitution and personal service

Substitution and personal service is one of the most important factors in IR35 tests. The right of substitution implies that a contractor can provide a reasonable substitute to provide services. Even the new Agency Worker Regulation emphasis that contractors and independent workers should establish the fact that their contract is genuinely independent.

To establish your right of substitution, you should send a substitute as a suitable replacement for a day’s work. This isn’t going to cause any problems but you will have a very strong evidence that your contract is independent.

Company stationary can help you clear IR35

As insignificant as it may sound, having your own business stationary can make a huge difference how IR35 sees your contract. You can either purchase of make your own stationary. Even a judge in hearing a case stated that having business cards and company stationary was a major factor in determining the nature of contract. To make sure that you have all the possible evidence in this regard, you can simply do the following.

Have a business website

Buy or make company stationary

Use company letterheads

Collect evidence for showing nature of actual relationship with your client

There were 192 inquiries about IR35 status in the last tax year (2013-2014) and taxman yielded a total of £430,000 from these inquiries. If we compare these stats with the previous yields, we will clearly notice that the number of inquiries drop only by a little while the yield drops by half from 2012-2013. Overall, IR35 inquiries brought in 61% less yield that the yield last year.

Despite changes happening to IR35 legislation and reduced output for the taxman, the IR35 is going to be with us for a quite a long time. So there is no better way out than to prepare for it by improving your prospects so that you can face the situation if HMRC come knocking doors of your business.

If you think you are outside IR35, be ready to prove it

If you think that you are outside IR35, you should be ready to prove this fact. You will need to collect different type of evidence that will show that your business is outside IR35. Additionally, you can have your contract reviewed from a professional so that you can include the review in your business practices. This will help you follow the right practices and you will be able to collect evidence that will be handy when HMRC comes knocking at your doors.

If your contract review turns out to be positive, you should keep its record safe so that you can include it in your evidence in case of an HMRC inquiry and prove that you are a genuine business.

A business insurance can help

When HMRC investigates your business, a business insurance is going to prove a great help. You should consider taking out a business insurance especially the personal indemnity insurance and you will have another factor on HMRC’s business entity test in your favor.

Although HMRC has always dismissed the factor that business insurance contributes to determine IR35 status, the new legislation has changed this scenario. Now a business insurance is as much a factor of business entity test as much is the substitution and contract review.

Business insurance doesn’t cost a fortune. You can buy full range of policies around £20 a month. Insurance at this cost shouldn’t be a problem especially when you weigh the cost against the benefits of taking out an insurance.

Substitution and personal service

Substitution and personal service is one of the most important factors in IR35 tests. The right of substitution implies that a contractor can provide a reasonable substitute to provide services. Even the new Agency Worker Regulation emphasis that contractors and independent workers should establish the fact that their contract is genuinely independent.

To establish your right of substitution, you should send a substitute as a suitable replacement for a day’s work. This isn’t going to cause any problems but you will have a very strong evidence that your contract is independent.

Company stationary can help you clear IR35

As insignificant as it may sound, having your own business stationary can make a huge difference how IR35 sees your contract. You can either purchase of make your own stationary. Even a judge in hearing a case stated that having business cards and company stationary was a major factor in determining the nature of contract. To make sure that you have all the possible evidence in this regard, you can simply do the following.

Have a business website

Buy or make company stationary

Use company letterheads

Collect evidence for showing nature of actual relationship with your client