5th December 2013 – George Osbourne looks at tackling avoidance of employment taxes.
"Tackling avoidance of Employment Taxes Significant progress has already been made over this Parliament to tackle the avoidance of employment taxes by combating disguised remuneration, avoidance by Employee Benefit Trusts and ensuring the correct income tax and NICs are paid by employers and employees when offshore employment intermediaries are used. At Budget 2013, the government announced that it would continue to gather evidence about the avoidance of employment taxes to inform future policy decisions. As the next step, Autumn Statement 2013 announces action to prevent employers and employment intermediaries from avoiding employer NICs and circumventing their employer obligations. The government strongly supports enterprise and those who choose to work for themselves, and believes that the tax system should continue to recognise the additional risk someone who is genuinely self-employed takes on. But the government is acting now to level the playing field so that companies cannot use employment intermediaries to disguise employment as self-employment and thus avoid employment taxes and deny employment rights to their workforce. The government will legislate to prevent employment intermediaries from being able to use contrived contracts to disguise the employment of workers. This will take effect from April 2014 and raise around £400 million each year."
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