Off-payroll working (IR35) rules will be changing on 6th April 2021. From this date the rules will change regarding how companies engage with individuals through personal service companies.
Under the new IR35 rules it will be the employer’s responsibility to assess the individual’s employment status. This change will affect all medium and large sized businesses, as well as public authorities.
The changes to the IR35 rules will ensure that all individuals who undertake work similar to that of an employee, but through their own limited company, pay the same amount of income tax and National Insurance contributions as other employees. Full details regarding the changes can be found in our article ‘New changes to off-payroll working rules (IR35)’
Companies should be aware of the changes to the IR35 rules, as deliberate non-compliance could result in breaching the Corporate Criminal Offence (CCO) legislation.
If a corporate entity engages the services of an individual through a service company and both the representative of the corporate and the individual engaged have deliberately misrepresented their employment status under IR35, HMRC has indicated that the corporate may be within the scope of the Corporate Criminal Offence.
Where the employer is found to have committed an offence under the Corporation Criminal Offence legislation, they would be subject to sanctions such as unlimited fines, deferred prosecution orders and serious damage to reputation, as the company’s actions will be made public record.
At STS (Europe) we offer training courses for senior management and all other relevant employees to make sure that staff are aware of the legislation and inform them on how to follow best practice. Our training course is an essential part in creating a defence against CCO.
If your company does not have CCO training in place, then get in touch with us via our contact page or give us a call. You can also visit our Corporate Criminal Offence page for more information.
