Paying someone as self-employed is cheaper for a business: no employer National Insurance, no holiday or sick pay, no work when there is no work. The worker may charge more, pay tax later, and claim expenses. Construction and IT have used this model for years. None of that decides status.
Status follows the facts, not what both sides wrote on a contract. HMRC will ignore a “consultancy agreement” if day-to-day control, substitution and mutuality look like employment. There is no single court test that every case matches. When they enquire into a business they often check who is off-payroll. Status inspectors argue this for a living.
What a wrong call costs
If people should have been employees, the engager can owe PAYE and NIC, sometimes for several years, with interest and penalties. Several workers over several years becomes a large bill. We review the engagements, put counter-arguments where the facts support self-employment, and negotiate where they do not — including a voluntary disclosure if you want to correct the past before they write.
How Solaratax helps
We gather contracts, diaries, substitution evidence and how work is actually done. Then we either defend the status or quantify a settlement. Do not let a status inspector interview staff without us.
Call 01615 314179 or email enquiries@solaratax.co.uk for a free, confidential discussion. We will not contact HMRC in your name until you instruct us to act.
Questions we are asked
Related investigations
PAYE investigations
Employer record visits: pay, benefits, status, CIS and the way a payroll check can open VAT or director enquiries.
IR35, personal service companies and managed service companies
Intermediaries legislation: PSCs, MSCs, umbrella companies and who now has to decide IR35.
Company tax investigations
Corporation Tax enquiries, directors’ private records, and the way VAT or PAYE often gets pulled in.
Talk to Solaratax
128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. 01615 314179. enquiries@solaratax.co.uk. Free, confidential, no obligation.
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