Lizz Truss promises to review IR35 should she become Prime Minister, according to an interview with The Sun.
Truss promised a review of the legislation and its impact on self-employed workers.
She was also quoted saying: “The changes that have been made to IR35 are all about trying to treat the self-employed the same as big business. But the fact is, if you’re self-employed, you don’t get the same benefits as being in a big company. You don’t get paid holidays, you didn’t get those benefits. So the tax system should reflect that more.”
What reactions has this received?
Qdos CEO, Seb Maley, commented: “Promising a review into IR35 is a step in the right direction. It’s widely accepted that the IR35legislation and the way HMRC enforces it is fundamentally flawed. Liz Truss must make a review a priority if she becomes Prime Minister. But this mustn’t be lip service.
“It’s impossible to overlook the fact that we’ve been here before. IR35 has been reviewed multiple times in recent years, yet still the government have taken very little or no action whatsoever. So you’d forgive contractors and businesses impacted by the rules for taking Liz Truss’s pledge with a pinch of salt.
“Any review of IR35 needs to be independent and far-reaching. HMRC’s very own IR35 status tool is unreliable and inaccurate, which is a major risk to compliance. While the legislation is forcing genuinely self-employed contractors into zero rights employment – a situation where they pay tax as employees but don’t receive any employment rights in exchange. Having specialised in this legislation since its introduction in 2000, Qdos stands ready to contribute to any review.”
CEO of tax compliance firm IR35 Shield, Dave Chaplin, said: “Whilst it is good to hear that Liz Truss intends to focus on IR35 as part of her vow to help small businesses should she become our next Prime Minister, my message to her is loud and clear: we don’t need another review, we need action.
“The so-called reforms are a flawed botch and have simply served to strangle contractors and those businesses which hire them. IR35 is an iron shackle, impeding flexible workers who can help deliver growth just when the UK economy and UK plc need them. The time to act is now. Over the last 20+ years, there has been considerable misjudged and damaging legislation heaped on the contracting sector and the sensible option would be to go back to the drawing board and design a fair tax system that works fairly for everybody – let’s fix it or ditch it.”
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
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