Issue 16; 5 August 1999

Further Delay in Government Response to Industry Concerns | Engineering Council supports joint submission | Campaign News

Further delay in Government response to Industry concerns
Since the last newsletter (Issue 15), The Treasury Press Office has stated (in a recent telephone conversation with the ICAEW) that they believe nothing is going to be issued on the IR35 initiative for '4 to 5 weeks'. This would mean no announcement before the end of August at the earliest. With Y2K resulting in Computer system change freezes in October this year it will be very difficult to see how major changes could be incorporated in time for the April 2000 deadline.

A joint letter drafted by the IOD, which the PCG has endorsed, has now been sent to Dawn Primarolo.
For the full text of this letter and link through to the House of Lords hansard report on the Welfare Reform Bill see:
http://www.engineerjob.com/ltr_dp.html

Engineering Council supports joint submission.
In a recent letter to the Paymaster General the Engineering Council, who represent some 300,000 professional engineers, expressed support for the Joint submission from the ICAEW, CIOT, CBI and Law Society and asked that the Government engage in a "consultative" process to ensure a proportionate response. The engagement of this significant player in the debate is both timely and welcome.

Campaign News

Member Invoices
For those members who have joined and are awaiting a receipted Invoice to confirm that your payment has been made, we can inform you that the VAT situation has now been resolved. Invoices have been printed and are with Bond Pearce who as our retained Lawyers have been responsible for the VAT negotiations and are looking after Campaign funds, These will be sent out over the next few weeks. If you have any queries on this would you please address them directly to: John Snyder of Bond Pearce on 01703 828869 or preferably by email on [email protected]. More information is available on the members site at: http://www.ir35update.co.uk/members/vat.html

Key Note Economic analysis commissioned
In view of the delay in announcement, we believe that the Government has not yet made up its mind. One of the key features of this debate has been how under researched this sector is. To promote debate on this we have commissioned a study from Professor John Burton to be published by the Adam Smith Institute at the beginning of September. The outline is as follows:-
Title: The New Flexible Economy and Professional Services by Professor John Burton
The Purpose of this monograph will be to critically examine the proposed changes `to counter [tax] avoidance in the area of personal service provision' drawing upon:

(1) Standard (and indisputable) micro-economic analysis and empirics

(2) The sub-discipline of `Law and Economics'

(3) Major themes in contemporary strategic and organisational management analysis

The Strategy of the Monograph

- will not be to tackle the proposals in IR35 but rather, to:
(a) To explain broad themes regarding the emergence of the "new" flexible economy, and relevant economic/organisational analysis, and then
(b) Show that the proposals contained in IR35 are fundamentally flawed.

Make a difference

The PCG remains open, at this time, for Contractors to join. Your support is vital, both to lobby Government and to fund the campaign.You will find the discussion forums, available on the members web site, a valuable guide on how to Lobby effectively.

Once the situation has become clearer, the forums, supported by our retained legal and accounting experts, will be utilised to ensure that you will be fully briefed on any changes.

Kind regards
Andy White
News: http://www.engineerjob.com
Campaign: http://www.ir35update.co.uk