The issue of employment status correct has always been high on HMRC’s agenda when competing a compliance review. This issue has taken on a new importance with the new rules on the provision of employment intermediaries which came into force on 6th April.
An intermediary is any person who makes arrangements for an individual to work for a third party or be paid by the intermediary for work done for a third party. An employment intermediary is also commonly referred to as an agency.
Intermediaries must return details of all workers they place with clients where the intermediary doesn’t operate Pay As You Earn (PAYE) on the workers’ payments. The return is a report (or reports) that must be sent to HMRC at least once every 3 months.
Intermediaries can decide how frequently they upload and send their reports. This could be weekly, monthly, once for each period, or whatever fits in best with how they work.
The intermediary that has the contract with the client is responsible for sending the report (or reports).
The person submitting the report must use HMRC’s report template to create the reports. HMRC has provided an online service to enable reports to be uploaded and submitted.
However, the reports do not have to be submitted if all the following statement are true, the report is to be submitted someone who:
is a UK employer supplies workers to provide their services to end clients and nobody else is involved operatesPAYE when the workers are paidGuidance on the provision of this information can be found here. The information includes details about:
Why the legislation was introduced What it means for all the parties involved – the agent, intermediary, client and worker.This is a very complex subject and HMRC have produced a YouTube video titled - 'Who is an employment intermediary?'
