Mar
11
2011
IR35 reform 'will provide no easy answers' to company umbrella contractors
Posted by Sarah Putt
The body behind a recent IR35 review has told umbrella company contractors that finding a solution to the problems with the legislation will not provide them with any "easy answers".
Kate Cottrell, from the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), told Contractor UK readers that this is because there is a lack of comprehensive or objective statistics into this controversial legislation.
She explained: "The biggest issue of the IR35 aspect of the report is that we just haven't got the data. If you go through it, we simply don't know if there are 10,000 or one million people affected by IR35."
Ms Cottrell went on to state that, as a result of this, there will be difficult times ahead as attempts are made to make a decision on IR35 reform.
Meanwhile, the OTS review's call to suspend IR35 as its future is considered has been dismissed by a number of contracting experts, ContractorCalculator reported.
Parasol's chief executive Rob Crossland has said that abolishing the legislation completely is "not a realistic proposition", while Andy Vessey, tax manager at Qdos Consulting, believes a suspension would not be backed by the government.
The body behind a recent IR35 review has told umbrella company contractors that finding a solution to the problems with the legislation will not provide them with any "easy answers".
Kate Cottrell, from the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), told Contractor UK readers that this is because there is a lack of comprehensive or objective statistics into this controversial legislation.
She explained: "The biggest issue of the IR35 aspect of the report is that we just haven't got the data. If you go through it, we simply don't know if there are 10,000 or one million people affected by IR35."
Ms Cottrell went on to state that, as a result of this, there will be difficult times ahead as attempts are made to make a decision on IR35 reform.
Meanwhile, the OTS review's call to suspend IR35 as its future is considered has been dismissed by a number of contracting experts, ContractorCalculator reported.
Parasol's chief executive Rob Crossland has said that abolishing the legislation completely is "not a realistic proposition", while Andy Vessey, tax manager at Qdos Consulting, believes a suspension would not be backed by the government.