IR35 reform ‘debate’ on BBC’s Money Box

The BBC Money Box programme covered the debate about whether April’s off-payroll rulesfor the public sector will be extended to the private sector. The contributions were made by a contractor (‘Jane’), the IFS and the FCSA.

Julia Kermode of the FCSA, who was speaking on behalf of contractors was cut short by the host Paul Lewis, and also interupted after she explained Mutuality of Obligation.

Lewis claimed that the off-payroll rules are “a change that does seem to be working,” and lower NICs for both PSCs and clients as a “mutually good wheeze.”

He also brought up the usage of a PSC, potentially for tax reasons, by a former BBC director-general.

The stance the BBC takes now, as Lewis said, is that the corporation is “rapidly reclassifying” its contractors.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) points out that workers using PSCs will deprive the exchequer of “billions more” in the coming years.

Helen Miller, the IFS speaker referred to the cost of non-compliance in the private sector, which is estimated to increase to £1.2bn a year by 2022-23.

She said that, the government would do “better” to address the different tax treatment for different workers rather than extending the off-payroll rules to the private sector.