Draft IR35 legislation expected

We advise contractors, recruitment agencies, and end clients to continue preparing for IR35 changes

Late last week it was announced by Treasury Minister, Jesse Norman, that the draft Finance Bill will be published on Thursday 11th July 2019. On this date, it is expected that the government will release draft clauses for incoming fiscal changes, along with accompanying notes, information and other supporting documentation.

The government has stated that, where possible, it is “committed to publishing most tax legislation in draft for technical consultation before the legislation is laid in Parliament.” It has not yet been confirmed whether this will include the draft legislation for IR35 reform, but there is a strong possibility.

After such a short period of time between the closing date of the consultation document and the introduction of the draft legislation, Qdos has raised the issue of whether HMRC has taken any of the responses to the consultation into consideration. 

With the draft legislation likely less than a fortnight away, it is also highly unlikely that we will see a U-turn at this stage. Despite the ongoing political uncertainty of Brexit and the appointment of a new Prime Minister, there is little to suggest that the government will change its mind or even delay private sector reform.

Therefore, we advise contractors, recruitment agencies and end-clients to continue preparing for IR35 changes, which are set for April 2020. Contractors can look to safeguard their IR35 status in the lead up to next year’s changes by having their contract reviewed, which you can learn about here.