HMRC recently updated its guidance on IR35 compliance for employers.

The new guidance sets out ‘practical steps’ for organisations to follow. It affects employers who are responsible for operating off-payroll working rules and who engage workers who provide their services through their own intermediary.

The guidance states that organisations should apply the new guidelines to ‘reflect the complexity and scale of their own off-payroll working engagements’. It said that the guidelines should be used to ‘help make informed decisions based on individual circumstances’.

The guidance also outlines a change in policy that could affect organisations with an open compliance check as part of the reformed IR35 rules. This was initially announced at the Autumn Statement on 22 November.

From 6 April 2024, HMRC will take into account the taxes a worker or their intermediary have already paid against the amount the deemed employer owes. This change applies to income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) assessed by HMRC on or after 6 April 2024 from off-payroll working errors in payments since 6 April 2017. More information on the guidance can be found here.