A month in to IR35: Ask Andy Answers
Here we are at the end of April. The IR35 reforms have been in play for almost a month and…
Kingsbridge continues its What the IR35?! podcast series with a fascinating Episode 4. This week, Kingsbridge’s MD Tom Wynne and Legal Manager Nikki Hayman speak to Kingsbridge tax experts Andy Vessey and Matt Tyler for their take on the current situation with the IR35 reforms in light of the government confirming they will take place in April 2021.
They begin the conversation by asking Andy for his take on the IR35 delay. “It was clearly the correct decision given the social crisis the country’s going through and the, obviously, devastating impact it’s going to have upon the UK economy.” He goes on to add, “it was certainly the right thing to do because, obviously, businesses and individuals have more important things to concentrate on than the implementation of these new reforms.” However, he does reiterate, as Kingsbridge have been underlining since March, that this is a delay, not a cancellation, despite the damning House of Lords report on the reforms.
On the Lords report, Andy says that “there’s not a lot to disagree with” in there, however he doesn’t believe it will have much effect on the government’s plans. After all, they have a massive majority in the House of Commons and so there’s no reason to think they’d make any kind of U-turn on this, especially since HMRC have “convinced themselves” that the public sector reforms have been a resounding success. Andy makes the point that, come autumn, the government will have to look at these reforms in relation to the state of the economy due to the impact of COVID – particularly in relation to impact on the labour market – but as this is a revenue raiser, the government will probably be more likely than ever to push ahead.
Matt adds to this by saying that, “The moment you [recruiters] start getting contractors that are going to be rolling over 6th April next year, you need to start looking at [IR35].” If that’s not now, then it will be in the next couple of months so recruiters should be educating clients now so they don’t run scared later. Partnering with organisations like Kingsbridge will help recruiters through this.
You can listen to the podcast in full here to learn more about what preparations Andy and Matt believe recruiters and end clients should be making.
