The UK’s self-employed must brace for HMRC’s latest direct debt recovery, penalty fees and filing burdens. But there is some promising news on the horizon: the government is coming down hard on tax avoidance schemes that target independent workers This article has been updated on 27.03.25 2025 SPRING BUDGET What is covered in this report: […]

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Freelancers left frustrated by latest government inaction over umbrella company tax avoidance protections Freelancers forced to work through umbrella companies were left disappointed today after the government’s announcement on tackling tax avoidance within the industry. Industry experts question why the taxmen have decided to kick the can instead of doing what they can. OPINION There’s […]

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OPINION HMRC spent 6.5% of its £6.8bn annual budget fighting tax avoidance, according to its 2022/23 expenditure report. For some people, this isn’t enough. They feel the tax authority should be spending more of its budget on “stopping the proliferation of tax avoidance schemes posing as umbrella companies,” one individual tells The Freelance Informer. That […]

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Two employment tribunals have found that two umbrella companies made unlawful deductions from their employees whilst being FCSA-accredited. In a separate case, it has been found that a KC-approved ‘mini umbrella’ has cost taxpayers £50m through a network out of the PhilippinesTwo umbrella companies that were both members of the FCSA have been taking unlawful […]

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ICAEW’s Tax Faculty is proposing safeguards for directors of alleged tax avoidance schemes in response to HMRC’s latest proposals that would allow a criminal offence to be applied where promoters fail to comply with a stop notice and directors are disqualified The ICAEW explains in a recent Insights report that failure to comply with the […]

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This week the government is closing two consultations involving Off-Payroll legislation. Contractor sector experts offer thoughts on what needs to change to put the freelance workforce back on track Two Government consultations involving Off-Payroll legislation close on June 22nd 2023. One is seeking to introduce harsher punishments for tax avoiders (i.e., contractors and umbrella companies) […]

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What could happen to the UK’s freelancer economy if recruitment agencies and end clients start getting fined by HMRC if their freelancers/contractors are linked to a tax avoidance scheme? Will freelance job boards, recruitment agencies and even end clients ever get stuck with umbrella company tax avoidance scheme fines and unpaid PAYE or will HMRC […]

The post “Something doesn’t smell right”: who’s going to foot the bill for these tax avoidance schemes? appeared first on Freelance Informer.

Some wealth planners are expecting radical changes to the UK tax system in the next few years. The Office for National Statistics has published a report, ‘Measuring tax gaps‘, noting that the tax gap amounted to £35bn, or 5.3% in the 2019/20 tax year. In the 2005/06 tax year, the tax gap was estimated to be […]

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UMBRELLA COMPANY CONTRACTORS ICAEW warns that the current legislative phrasing provides HMRC with “a very wide-ranging power with extremely serious consequences.” The government is giving the nation’s tax authority, the HMRC, more legislative powers to clamp down on promoters of tax avoidance schemes, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). […]

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