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IR 35 Review Latest
10 - 08 - 2010
"The review specifically includes IR35, and a lot of people have interpreted that as meaning ‘we’re going to abolish IR 35’, John Whiting the interim head of tax at the Office for Tax Simplification commented to Taxation Magazine.
He continued, “that’s not a bad starting point … but if we are going to make any serious progress we should look at the whole thing.. Does that mean looking at the sole trader v. employee v. company? Yes it possibly does.
He added, “What I don’t want to do is to add another bit of sticking plaster to what is already a ramshackle structure. If that disappoints people by not committing to abolish IR35 by the end of next week, well, sorry.” And, “As far as I am concerned, IR35 is not very effective and we need to look at what gives rise to that. For all the hot air it generated, there were real abuses that IR35 was meant to tackle. If it were abolished, they would come out again. Maybe people have to accept that if we simplify to make things easier, it may make some of the edges rougher”
So, Mr Whiting is pretty clear about his approach. However, perhaps one should also ask whether a Coalition Government has the political will to define, on a lasting basis, what self employment is and to define what benefits in the tax system, if any, should be accorded to that independent status. This will be an interesting twelve months!
