HMRC have made questionable claims about the impact of contracting via a limited company.

This factsheet is intended to set the record straight on the damaging effects that the off-payroll rules have had on the public sector.

The release is a direct response to HMRC’s factsheet – published alongside the Off-Payroll working in the private sector consultation – which contained multiple questionable claims and mistruths, providing an inaccurate representation of the impact of the changes.

The factsheet debunks the falsehoods that HMRC is purporting, and counter-balances the taxman’s blinkered and biased view.

So far, HMRC has published their preferred version of the story, but we can’t allow the general public, and more importantly the country’s key decision makers, to be misled.

IR35 factsheet: debunking HMRC’s falsehoods

HMRC has banded around these figures emphasising the supposed cost of non-compliance with IR35. Elsewhere, it claims that the reforms have improved compliance. None of this has been substantiated.

Mystery statistics and misleading claims have been a recurring theme in HMRC’s promotion of the off-payroll rules. By contrast, everything within our factsheet is verifiable; much of it coming from a collection of studies into IR35 in the public sector, which HMRC ironically dismissed in its consultation as ‘anecdotal’ or ‘rumours’.

Our factsheet evidence was drawn on a body of evidence, including:

• A survey of more than 1,500 contractors by ContractorCalculator
• Findings gathered from 1,494 recruitment firms by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo)
• A Freelancer and Contractor Services Association (FCSA) survey of intermediaries supporting more than 33,500 public sector workers
• A survey of 450 healthcare locums by ContractorCalculator and the Independent Health Professionals Association (IHPA)
• Findings gathered from more than 500 contractors, hiring managers and business leaders by Harvey Nash
• Multiple investigative journalism items from ContractorCalculator and The Times.

Source: Contractor Calculator[/vc_column_text]