HMRC has announced that the consultation on off payroll working in the private sector, first mentioned last Autumn, has now been issued and are seeking views on the best way to tackle perceived non-compliance.
As you know the Government introduced legislation to address non-compliance in the public sector last year and claim that the reform was largely effective in increasing compliance. They have said however that they are committed to learn from the experience and will take into account the needs of businesses and individuals. In this regard three options have been presented – extending the public sector reforms to the private sector with appropriate modifications, shifting the onus to end clients to secure the labour supply chain or introducing the need for additional record keeping such that the requisite information to make the correct assessment is collected as a matter of course through the supply chain.
Those involved in the public sector roll out are aware that, even 12 months on, there are still quite a few issues to sort out. Hopefully these will be fed back to Government during the consultation. Given that the private sector will be more complicated, while April 19 is possible, April 20 seems more realistic at this stage if the Government wants to get this right.
We will of course provide further information and comments following the consultation.
See here for further details: https://www.gov.uk//government/consultations/off-payroll-working-in-the-private-sector
