Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the IR35 reforms, how much extra tax is payable by the firm in addition to the fees paid to the worker when a firm classes someone as an employee for tax purposes; and what that tax payable would be for a worker charging £400 per day for their services.

The off-payroll working rules (sometimes known as IR35) only affect people working like employees and through a company. The recent changes to the rules in the public sector, shift responsibility for assessing the individual’s employment status from the individual’s company to the public authority.

If the engager contracts with the individual’s company, the reform also shifts responsibility for deducting the required employment taxes and paying employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) to the engager. Otherwise this responsibility lies with the person paying the individual’s company.

The reform does not change the amount of tax payable by the firm engaging the worker. Both before and after the reforms employer NICs is due, and the £1.3 billion raised by 2023/2024 for the Exchequer is from increased compliance with the rules, not from any additional tax.