Contractor UK

Not every umbrella that underpays HMRC is doing the same thing wrong — and Joint & Several Liability doesn’t treat all three scenarios the same way. Nevertheless, ‘Can we trust it?’ is now the key brolly question being asked by contractors’ recruitment agencies and end-clients.

The Commercial Payments Bill avoided the usual fate of promising legislation — getting butchered by the Lords and sent back watered down. But surviving intact isn't the win it sounds like: peers left out contractors' biggest ask of 30 days, and even mandatory interest on late invoices is hardly enough to make a bad payer ditch the habit.

HMRC is consulting until Sunday on plans to make Direct Debit mandatory for VAT and PAYE payments, hitting contractors paid on agency terms of 30-60 days. Dedicated tax reserve accounts will surely come into their own. Either way, respond to HMRC.

HMRC’s recent focus on ‘reckless’ tax offences is a blunt instrument that risks tarring legitimate contractors with the same brush as tax evaders, warns SG Accounting’s Daniel Mepham.

The former Felicitas director says contractors were never supposed to be pursued for the full face value of their loans — and reveals that Felicitas cancelled at least one loan after concluding the arrangement had been mis-sold.