Chancellor’s Autumn Statement: so many changes, but little of direct interim interest

Sometime prior to the Autumn statement, there was representation to the Treasury/HMRC that there was a problem with the way tax was claimed back in the event that an assignment was found to be wrongly classified as ‘outside ir35’ when HMRC’s view, potentially supported by a tax tribunal, found it to be ‘inside’. Where working through a provider or umbrella company, the business closest to the client contractually had to pay the full outstanding amount of tax owed, both by them and by the interim/freelancer. This was deemed unreasonable and it was indicated that this would be fixed in the Autumn Statement. And it has been. In fact, the full extent of the comment can be found in the written full statement on page 90, out of 120, and reads as follows:

” 5.50 Off-Payroll Working (IR35) – calculation of PAYE liability in cases of non-compliance – The government will legislate in the Autumn Finance Bill 2023 to allow HMRC to reduce the PAYE liability of a deemed employer to account for taxes paid by a worker and their intermediary on payments received where an error has been made in applying the off-payroll working rules.”

What that means for the individual interim remains to be seen.