The Government last night announced they are postponing the reforms to the off-payroll working rules, also know as IR35, from 6 April 2020 to 6 April 2021.
This is in light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak and was announced among a £330bn financial package for the UK economy.
“This is a deferral in response to the ongoing spread of Covid-19 to help businesses and individuals,” announced Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Steve Barclay MP to the House of Commons.
Despite this new measure, the Government were keen to stress this is just a postponement and not a cancellation. Last month, the Treasury confirmed it was going ahead with the reform to the tax rules.
IR35 would see medium and large private sector businesses in the UK becoming responsible for setting the tax status of any contract work they use from April 2020.
However, this U-turn comes after many members of the House of Lords called for the controversial reform to be postponed due to the great economic impact Coronavirus is forecast to have.
We would recommend keeping IR35 in mind and start looking at the process to begin putting steps in place ready for 6 April 2021. Our recent blog offers useful tips for IR35 and can be found here.
Get in touch if you’d like more IR35, or general HR, advice