JUDGMENT AWAITED AFTER S660A TEST CASE

The first hearing of a Section 660A case by the Special Commissioners of Income Tax finished on Wednesday 16 June. The case concerns PCG member Geoff Jones and his wife Diana of Arctic Systems and is being funded by PCG.

The judgment, which is unlikely to be delivered for at least six weeks, will be closely scrutinised by tax experts, accountants (and their professional indemnity insurers), as well as thousands of family business owners who could be similarly affected.

PCG PROVIDES GUIDANCE ON NEW AGENCY REGULATIONS

In a Special newsletter sent out on Wednesday 16 June, PCG outlined its guidance with regard to the new Agency Regulations. If for some reason you missed this, the information may be found on the Latest News page.

Reports of individual agencies abusing or misunderstanding the provisions of the new Agency Regulations should be sent to PCG by email.

LAUNCH OF COLLABORATIVE FREELANCING INITIATIVE

PCG's Collaborative Freelancing Initiative (CFI) has been re-launched, and the first meeting will take place from 13:00 to 17:00 on Saturday 26 June 2004, at Atlantic Bar and Grill.

To support the objectives of the meeting, no prescriptive agenda will be created beforehand. Attendance will be FREE OF CHARGE, and for further information about the initiative and how to register see the posting in the PCG Business forum.

PCG MEMBERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN FIGHT AGAINST CANCER

Since the 1 June 2004 newsletter, the number of PCG members in the team has almost doubled. Over 15 years' CPU time has now been donated by the team in the fight against cancer.

PCG is asking you to volunteer your PC to help process molecular research being conducted by the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford in England and the National Foundation for Cancer Research. To participate, you simply need to download a very small, no cost, non-invasive software program that works like a screensaver: it runs when your computer is not being used, and processes research until you need your machine.

This landmark project began in April 2001 and allows people to make a real difference in the fight against cancer. For more information, please see the Notice Board. To join the PCG team created in 2002, see the grid.org website.

LAST CALL FOR RESPONSES TO ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP SURVEY

If you have not already responded to PCG's annual survey, please take a few moments to participate online before it closes at midnight on Friday 25 June 2004.

The survey is anonymous and should take only ten minutes or so to complete. It includes several free text response options, giving members the chance to express their views.

SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME TO IR35 DISPUTE

John Senior set up his company, Consult Direct Limited, in August 2003, and joined PCG.

He decided to submit one of his contracts to the Inland Revenue for "IR35 clearance". Reviewing the contract towards the end of the year, PCG Affiliate member Accountax Consulting gave the opinion that it was fairly strong and that it included the key elements necessary in a contract for services. Not surprisingly, the Revenue disagreed, and insisted that the contract did fall within IR35, despite the substitution and other clauses included.

Accountax Consulting disputed the claim on John's behalf, and after much correspondence back and forth, the Revenue conceded the dispute in May, ruling that the contract did indeed fall outside IR35.

Commenting on the outcome, John said, "Naturally, I am pleased with the IR35 decision and the relatively short time it has taken to resolve. Accountax was very professional and responsive to my plight, and resolved the dispute for me quickly and successfully."

PCG LAUNCHES REGIONAL INITIATIVE

Julie Stewart joined the PCG board last month with a remit to help build a regional network of PCG clusters, supporting members locally and complementing the virtual interaction via the internet.

Members are invited to get in touch with her by email, including their postcode in the message, to:

• Find out more about Real Life Meetings (RLMs)
• Establish whether there are any RLMs in their area
• Discuss starting an RLM and requesting help
• Find out how many other PCG members there are in their area
• Discuss the possibility of clients, agents, accountants and other potential partners co-hosting local events to discuss issues concerning themselves and freelancers, and for networking
• Share their thoughts and ideas for building regional networks

Regional events represent a growing part of the PCG community activity, and there are already several well-established regional groups, such as Edinburgh, Thames Valley, Gloucestershire/Wiltshire, central London and Kent.

Freelancing can be lonely, and regional meetings represent the ideal opportunity to socialise, network and exchange ideas. Some of the meetings have featured formal presentations from tax experts, including Dave Smith of Accountax, which were found to be extremely worthwhile by participants.

Members are also reminded that they can register their interest in attending a regional seminar; this information will help PCG to gauge the demand in specific areas and plan accordingly.

TAX CASE STATISTICS

To date, PCG's partners have handled and closed around 570 tax cases for its members. Of these, 568 have been closed with a win and just two have been lost. A few hundred cases are pending.

COMMERCIAL FORUM PROJECT POSTINGS

For information about the latest job, project, contract and work opportunities, see PCG's Commercial forum , and Members' Commercial forum. The Commercial forum may be accessed by Affiliate members, and PCG welcomes postings by agencies.

This week's opportunities, selected from both forums, include:

Visual Basic and Oracle developers, Glasgow

Systems integration manager and developers, data modelling and database designers, City of London

Installation consultant

REAL LIFE MEETINGS

Farnborough - Monday 28 June 2004 19:00

North Kent - Monday 19 July 19:30 2004

North West - Thursday 29 July 2004

Reading/Thames Valley

South Wales

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Disclaimer - caveat emptor - PCG carries very limited advertising only from known and reputable Affiliates and complementary organisations. Even so, publication of any advertisement carries no implicit or explicit endorsement by PCG.

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