A well known and respected tax advisory company have recently done some research, and what they found will surprise many, especially in the public sector.
It was the public sector where this research was carried out you see, and the subject on the top of the list was the dreaded “IR35 reforms,” which thousands of contractors around the country have been complaining about of course.
Do the majority of public sector workers even have to take part in this whole IR35 thing, anyway? According to the new research…maybe not.
What they found is that 89% of the people surveyed passed their unique IR35 public sector test, which was a detailed status assessment that really put contractors through their paces.
The end result of all of this was that most contractors “sit outside of IR35,” which means they won’t have to bow down to the recent changes which came into effect on April 6th and have been the subject of much controversy
At this point I would just like to point out that all of this research has been carried out independently by a third party company and has nothing to do with the government at all.
In other words, if you are a public sector workers then don’t expect to turn up at work tomorrow and be told by your boss to forget about IR35.
This is a view shared by the tax advisory company who did the research, as although they were very sure of their findings regarding IR35 and public sector workers, they did go on to admit that every case needed to be reviewed individually by a government official.
They also went on to add that most of the public sector contractors surveyed worked in the IT industry, which does appear to have a higher pass rate than other industries.
No matter what industry you work in…the word on the street is that freelancers and contractors everywhere feel completely unsupported by the government.
In a shocking survey conducted only a few months ago, it emerged that a staggering 97% of self employed workers have no belief in the current regime at Number 10.
That is definitely a lot of people, and it makes you wonder how the Tories even got re-elected in the general election. They did of course, but only just.
The IR35 changes have obviously played a major factor in the distrust between hard working contractors and the government, but also the ridiculous tax grab and other issues that have become apparent.
If you are a public sector contractor then you might want to contact a specialist tax firm who can advise you on the best way forward regarding IR35.
However, you could also join the thousands of public sector workers who are leaving and moving into the private sector, where many say the opportunities are in abundance and the money is a lot better. The choice is yours.
