6th November 2012, 12:58 AM
Hi Chiz,
At the risk of drifting OT, that "Unit in the North" may not fall foul of the IFA, but if they are staffing digs with "freelancers" the Tax Man would be very interested! According to HMRC you are only "freelance" (Sole Trader, in tax terms) if you can set your own hours, determine your own approach to the project, and use your own major tools/facilities. If the Unit supplies the van and shovel, dictates the start & end times (and tea breaks), and tells you what to dig or record each day and when to do it, then you are an employee entitled to PAYE via a company payroll system. True "freelancers" by comparison are free to negotiate these terms as part of their tenders, even if some basics like delivery deadlines and required deliverables (like reports, data sets, etc) are set by the Unit in its brief. This is of course separate from true freelancers such as finds/enviro specialists who will agree a piece of post-ex work for a given fee...
The issue is that using "freelance" workers for what is essentially employment is a tax dodge that cheats HMRC (and our society as a whole) of the Class 1 NICs that all employers have to pay. If you have evidence of abuse, pick up the phone!
At the risk of drifting OT, that "Unit in the North" may not fall foul of the IFA, but if they are staffing digs with "freelancers" the Tax Man would be very interested! According to HMRC you are only "freelance" (Sole Trader, in tax terms) if you can set your own hours, determine your own approach to the project, and use your own major tools/facilities. If the Unit supplies the van and shovel, dictates the start & end times (and tea breaks), and tells you what to dig or record each day and when to do it, then you are an employee entitled to PAYE via a company payroll system. True "freelancers" by comparison are free to negotiate these terms as part of their tenders, even if some basics like delivery deadlines and required deliverables (like reports, data sets, etc) are set by the Unit in its brief. This is of course separate from true freelancers such as finds/enviro specialists who will agree a piece of post-ex work for a given fee...
The issue is that using "freelance" workers for what is essentially employment is a tax dodge that cheats HMRC (and our society as a whole) of the Class 1 NICs that all employers have to pay. If you have evidence of abuse, pick up the phone!