PCG and Accountax have developed a scheme that will enable many freelancers who have paid up under IR35 to claim back their tax paid.

Announcing the scheme, PCG�s legal director Dr Simon Juden said, �We believe that many freelancers paid up under IR35 without actually recognising that their terms of engagement with agencies and clients qualified them as being outside IR35. Based on our research, which shows that some 20% of PCG members have at some time paid up under IR35, the amounts involved could be considerable � at least hundreds of thousands of pounds.�

The scheme is available to PCG members who have paid up at any time since the inception of IR35 in April 2000 and who have paid �deemed salaries� in excess of �30,000 under IR35.

Commenting on the scheme, Dave Smith of Accountax said �We are recognised as having a successful, proactive and assertive approach in dealing with these issues. We are ideally suited to helping PCG members recoup taxes paid out in error.�

The first 50 freelancers accepted on to the scheme will receive �1,000 of their repayment immediately by way of a cheque from Accountax in advance of repayment by the Revenue � and will keep it even if the Revenue eventually wins the case.

Benefits of the new scheme:

• No win, no fee: there is no risk in applying for the scheme, since fees are taken only after tax has successfully been recouped from the Revenue, and 50 freelancers will be �1,000 better off, irrespective of the outcome.
• Accountax will defend any Revenue enquiries up to and including the Special Commissioners. Accountax remains the only firm of tax consultants to have won IR35 cases at the Special Commissioners.
• All returns of tax and national insurance are guaranteed against subsequent Revenue challenge for six years: Accountax will handle those queries and if necessary defend the case at the Special Commissioners of Income Tax without further professional fees being charged. Even in the unlikely event of such a challenge being successful, the freelancer would be indemnified under the scheme and so could keep all moneys refunded.

Further information is�available at�the PCG website. Members wishing to apply for the IR35 Payback! scheme should email [email protected] in the first instance, quoting�their PCG membership number or username. They�will be sent an information pack containing the straightforward terms and conditions and full instructions on how to proceed.