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PCG Newsletter - 25 Feb 2002 - 09/02 - Tax
Insurance coverage
In this issue:
1. Tax Investigation Insurance
2. Members Survey
3. PCG election nominations
4. IR35 toolkit seminar
5. PCG presentation to ATSCO
Real Life Meetings
1. Tax Investigation Insurance
In recent weeks PCG has reported that the IR are increasingly
approaching contracting companies under the guise of a standard
PAYE visit, and actually conducting IR35 status reviews at the
meeting. PCG has advised members to treat any approach by the
IR with caution,´ and if required, seek professional
advice.
All PCG members are covered under the Group´s Tax Investigation
Insurance scheme. A share of each membership fee is used to
provide this benefit. The scheme is handled by Qdos and provides
cover for professional fees incurred up to a limit of £50,000
in respect of the following:
· An Inland Revenue in-depth investigation (including
IR35 status enquiry)
· A PAYE/NIC investigation or dispute
· A Self Assessment return investigation (including Aspect
Enquiry)
· A VAT Dispute
The scheme provides coverage for the costs of an *investigation*
and not routine IR visits. As soon as you are officially notified
by the Revenue that you are under investigation, you should
inform Qdos who (like all advisers) are better able to achieve
results if they have been involved from as early as possible.
Full details of the scheme, including coverage, exclusions and
claim form are available from:
http://www.pcg.org.uk/tax_invest_insurance.html?nl250202
Under the scheme, it is the individual member who is covered
and not the members company. Also, with prior agreement, members
can use their own advisers instead of Qdos. Full FAQs are available
including issues such as coverage for other company director´s
(eg. spouse) and non-contracting income / running an associated
business
http://www.pcg.org.uk/taxinvest_faqs.html
NB you must keep your PCG membership up to date to ensure coverage
from this scheme.
The FAQs also link to additional advice for members faced with
a PAYE enquiry:
http://www.pcg.org.uk/members/paye_faq_taxinvest.html
(This link is available to PCG members only. To join
http://www.pcg.org.uk/join.html
)
This week Qdos handled a PAYE visit / status enquiry on behalf
of a member. Qdos had previously reviewed the contracts (2 clients,
3 renewals each) and felt that from an IR35 point of view, the
business was in a very strong position. Of course, the IR official
declared the contracts caught,´ based on the IR
guidance notes. Immediately Qdos questioned the inspector about
use of case law to determine status and it quickly became
apparent that the official (a NICs specialist) had no specialist
training in reviewing contracts.
Qdos insisted that the contracts were reviewed clause by clause
and eventually the official conceded that to fall outside IR35,
the only key ingredient was an unfettered right of substitution.
Not only is this incorrect, but in this case, the contract
had a relatively weak requirement to gain client agreement regarding
the suitability of the substitute. Qdos pointed out the relevant
facts and after working with the inspector to understand the
facts, were able to negotiate a change of opinion as he eventually
declared the business outside IR35´.
A full report and discussion of this visit is available for
members:
http://www.pcg.org.uk/threads/showpost.pl?f=public01-15278&p=0&v=c&s=5?nl250202
NB you must be a member and logged in to the PCG discussion
forums to make this link if you need help see end of
newsletter.
2. Members survey
Members are invited to share their views of PCG using our online
survey. It takes a few minutes to complete and will help us
plan the future. Please spare a moment, no matter if you are
a new or old member:
http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?ID=Q86E3YGCTGV6&PIN=KYLLM9QL5XW4
3. PCG election nominations
Nominations are now open for 2002 CC elections. Again members
are asked to get involved to secure a successful future for
your representative body.
http://www.pcg.org.uk/members/elections/2002/index.html
4. IR35 toolkit seminar
Book now for a place on the forthcoming seminars at Heathrow
on Tuesday 5th March and Bristol on Thursday 7th March. These
events are just over a week away!
All of PCG´s advisers are on hand to explain the latest
information on P35, status and to answer your questions.
http://www.pcg.org.uk/resources/seminar_02_02.html?250202
5. PCG presents to ATSCO
PCG took the opportunity recently to meet with the members of
ATSCO at one of their regular meetings, and to present on the
future of PCG as a representative body for contractors. The
meeting covered a wide range of issues including the legal challenge
to IR35, the state of the market, educating clients to use business
to business contracts, FTVs, agencies going bust and poaching´
of contractors by resource management companies.
A full report is available at
http://www.pcg.org.uk/threads/showpost.pl?f=lobby-27206&p=0&v=c&s=5
REGIONAL NEWS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Real Life Meetings
For the latest information and to start a local group see
http://www.pcg.org.uk/threads/wwwthreads.pl?a=l&f=meet
To promote your local meet through the newsletter email
[email protected] with REGIONS in the subject matter, details
of the event and a name and email contact point/or phone number
for further information.
Wokingham
***********
Thursday 28th February
The Ship
Time: from 7:30
Welwyn
**********
Date: Thursday 28th February 2002
Time: 7:30 pm onwards
West Midlands
**********
Date: Thursday 7th March 2002
Time: 7.00 pm
Venue: Rose & Crown, Junction 3 of M42
[email protected]
Please follow this link to Real Life meetings to get involved
http://www.pcg.org.uk/threads/wwwthreads.pl?a=l&f=meet
Alison Edwards
(PCG Executive Team)
This newsletter is published by the Professional Contractors
Group. Please feel free to circulate the newsletter to other
independent contractors who you know, and who may be interested
in joining the PCG. Some links in the newsletter will take you
into the password-protected members' area of the PCG website.
If you have forgotten your password, contact http://www.pcg.org.uk/scripts/public/access/form.pl
To view the Forum links in this newsletter, you must be
first logged into the Forum. Further details available at http://www.pcg.org.uk/members/discussion_forum.html
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