IR35 Insurance

IR35 insurance is a worthwhile investment for any UK limited company contractor. HMRC can open an investigation into anyone’s accounts and from what we have seen over the past 20 years, HMRC often take the approach of guilty until proven innocent.

Whilst public sector contractors and private sector contractors working for medium-large companies are not currently responsible or liable for their IR35 status, HMRC don’t draw the line at just looking at recent engagements.

HMRC can investigate up to 4 years under normal circumstances, 6 if they suspect carelessness, and even further if they suspect fraud.

Qdos IR35 insurance covers you against these retrospective tax years (up to 6). From as little as £8.25 per month, you don’t have to face HMRC alone should they come knocking.

This all depends on the policy. Tax Enquiry Insurance will provide cover for the costs of an expert defending your case in an enquiry. This is also included in our Tax Liability Cover, but this policy extends to the money owed should you be found ‘inside IR35’ following an enquiry (liabilities, penalties, and interest).

Qdos policies offer support and guidance from the very moment that you first receive correspondence from HMRC all the way to a tax tribunal, should it get that far. We’ll provide you with the help of our expert team, which includes former tax inspectors, to defend your case and deal with the back and forth with HMRC. This way, we can try and close the enquiry as early as possible. This is included in both of our tax and IR35 insurance policies.

With Qdos Tax Liability Cover, you get that extra bit of cover should an IR35 investigation result in a demand for taxes owed, as well as any penalties or interest, up to the limit of cover on the policy. We provide a range of coverage options from £25,000 up to £250,000 to suit your needs.

Tax investigation insurances can differ in their range of cover from provider-to-provider. Both our Tax Enquiry Insurance and our Tax Liability Cover policies provide the defence costs (up to £50,000) in the event of any of the following HMRC enquiries:

 

• IR35 disputes
• PAYE compliance reviews
• PAYE/NIC disputes
• VAT disputes
• Any HMRC aspect enquiry
• Any HMRC full enquiry
• Section 660A disputes

Tax Liability Cover and Tax Enquiry Insurance policies work on a claims-made basis. This means that the policy must be active at the time you make a claim, irrespective of when the claim relates to. If you're out of contract for a period of time or closing your company, it's recommended to maintain cover for a period of time afterwards to ensure any risk of claim has passed.

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It depends. Under the off-payroll working rules, unless you're working for a small company in the private sector, you will no longer need to determine whether your engagement is caught by the IR35 rules and you won't carry the IR35 liability from when they were introduced (April 2021 for the private sector and April 2017 for the public sector).

This doesn't mean you should forget about IR35 altogether. The IR35 rules which have been applied since 2000 (Chapter 8, Part 2 of ITEPA 2003) will remain applicable to all tax years preceding 2021. In other words, contractors will still be exposed to IR35 liability for income earned on contracts undertaken during tax years prior to IR35 reform.

HMRC’s right to enquire into previous tax years allows them to go back as far as 4 years under normal circumstances, 6 years where HMRC suspect careless behaviour or 20 years where fraud, or ‘deliberate behaviour’ is suspected (cases of fraud or deliberate avoidance wouldn't be covered under our IR35 insurance).

You should assess your current liability risk before determining whether to stop holding IR35 liability cover and consider switching to Tax Enquiry Insurance.

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