IR35, Employment and Self-Employment

IR35 legislation is often an area of confusion for businesses. In the following Information Pages we aim to clarify some of the key issues so that you can make more informed decisions about engaging a person or personal service company (PSC) to provide services to your business. The Business documents available on Simply-Docs include relevant forms of agreement between a client and a worker and between a client and an intermediary company.

For the purposes of both tax and employment law, one key consideration is whether the individual worker providing those services has the status of an employee of your business, or is instead self-employed (i.e. a freelance consultant or sole trader). If the worker is using a PSC then the IR35 rules may apply to the proposed engagement of that company. These information pages and the Guidance Note on Employment, Self-Employment and IR35 available on Simply-Docs should guide you through the issues and alert you to some of the pitfalls and help you to choose the right approach to engaging the individual or company concerned. 

Despite the use of a suitable self-employment/independent contractor agreement, there will still be a risk that an employer-employee relationship (for employment law or tax purposes) may exist between the supplier of the services and his/her client. Therefore it is always advisable to take relevant legal advice on your particular circumstances.

• IR35, Employment and Self-Employment