IR35 accounting and tax advice

IR35 is effectively new legislation which requires medium and large businesses to have controls in place to identify, assess and determine the employment status for income tax/NIC purposes of contractors engaged via an intermediary (i.e. typically a Personal Service Company or Partnership). 

The April 2021 changes also provides new guidance for public sector bodies who have been required to abide by OPW legislation since April 2017.

To ensure compliance with the new OPW regulations, businesses need to:

1.    Have good governance in place supporting robust controls and processes to ensure compliance with the new rules including identification, assessment and payment of engagements caught under these rules.

2.    Identify OPW workers who provide their services via intermediaries which are caught under these rules.

3.    Assess whether an engagement is a supply within the scope for OPW/ IR35 assessment or is a fully contracted-out service.

4. Assess the worker's employment status and take reasonable care when doing so.

5. Provide a Status Determination Statement to the worker's intermediary and fee-payer (if the person paying the intermediary is not the end-client).

6. Have in place a robust client-led disagreement (appeals) process to respond to appeals within legislated timescales.

7. Have an effective document retention process in place.

How can we help?

We have deep expertise aligned with technology to help public and private sector organisations ensure they have robust and compliant practices in place to manage OPW effectively.

Our support can be as comprehensive and collaborative as you require. Key areas where we have provided valuable assistance have included:

• Leading and organising training workshops to provide guidance, discuss strategy and approach with all key stakeholders;
• Identifying engagements potentially within the OPW regulations using our expertise data mining technology tool (find out more here);
• Carrying out Status Determination Statement (SDS) assessments using our specialists and bespoke technology to produce a consistent and detailed SDS for the contractor; 
• Designing & implementing process maps and robust controls; and
• Supporting with broader communication and governance approaches (including interaction with Senior Accounting Officer, Corporate Criminal Offence and HMRC).

Get in touch

If you would like to know more about OPW, IR35 and Employment Status, please contact us using the form below today.

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