Specialist insurances and IR35 advice
- Contractors
- Freelancers
- Consultants
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Our fully comprehensive policy offers the
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Legal costs covered |
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We offer peace of mind by covering the legal costs involved in a tax case. We also offer professional representation, whether you're looking for defence, pursuing a commercial or personal claim, or are making an appeal. Legal costs covered include solicitors and barristers’ fees, court costs, experts’ fees and attendance expenses.
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Expert Advice and Consultancy |
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| Our Head of Tax, Andy Vessey, is widely recognised as one of the UK’s foremost IR35 experts, having personally and successfully defended more than 500 HMRC IR35 investigations. His expertise is accessible for all clients of Larsen Howie. |
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Tailored for Contractors, Consultants and Freelancers |
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| The beauty of contracting is that each end client, contract and project is different from day to day, and a cookie-cutter review doesn't do your contract justice. We approach each contract review as a unique document, so you get tailored recommendations and as accurate an opinion as possible. |
It stems from a piece of tax legislation which is commonly known as the 'Intermediaries Legislation'. The aim of IR35 by HMRC is to ensure that ‘disguised employees’ pay the same tax as if they were an employee. Genuine companies in business in their own right are deemed to be ‘outside’ of IR35 and are not penalised, whereas disguised employees are said to be ‘inside’ of IR35 and must pay the relevant taxes and National Insurance Contribution (NIC) payments accordingly.
The new ‘off-payroll’ rules were implemented in April 2017 for contractors working for public sector organisations. Instead of contractors themselves being responsible for determining their IR35 status, this obligation has been handed to the engager of each contractor, i.e. the client. Where a contractor is deemed to be ‘inside’ IR35, the fee-payer must deduct employees’ NICs and income tax from the contractor’s pay, as well as paying employers’ NICs.
There are steps you can take, no matter where you sit on the supply chain, to make sure you’re ready for the changes; contract and working practices reviews are the first port of call while educating yourself about what the off-payroll rules mean for you is crucial to staying on the right side of the legislation. Larsen Howie offers a range of contract and working practices reviews – you can find out which option would be best for you here.
IR35 insurance helps contractors find experienced legal representation to defend their tax status and represent their interests if they are selected for review - effectively, it's insurance in case you're investigated. Our policy covers the legal costs of defending yourself in an investigation.
If the HMRC decides to investigate your tax status and you don't have insurance, you could end up paying a specialist far more to represent your interests. With investigations potentially taking years to conclude, this could leave you with a huge bill, even if you win. Even if you never need it, the nominal premium of IR35 tax investigation & liabilities insurance offers peace of mind like few other covers.
While this figure will only ever be cemented until a given tax or IR35 investigation is closed, you can use our tax liabilities calculator to get a good idea of how much you would have to pay. Remember that this figure doesn't include any court or defence costs, and it's always best to over-estimate to make sure you're fully covered.
We've written about this before - read here for a step-by-step of what to expect before, during, and after an IR35 enquiry.