In the government’s IR35 reform, a contractor would be put under the self-employed or an employee category. Before it was the duty of a contractor to define his/her employment status but now this responsibility is imposed on the end-user who pays them.

HMRC guaranteed smooth executions for businesses initially where they wouldn't give fines for inadvertent errors. Nonetheless, they have begun advising businesses of their aim to audit compliance. This likewise accompanies a request to meet so they can notice processes and pose loads of inquiries.

There has been a lot of discussion among HMRC and specialists around the precision of the choices from the CEST tool, particularly during the IR35 changes. The CEST tool has been intensely condemned by various industry experts, including the BBC and KPMG Experts'.

Businesses risk IR35 compliance with CEST

The most recent data for HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool has illuminated one of its many defects. The tool conveyed 410,083 undermined outcomes between November 2019 and August 2021.

This shows a 23,531 increment when estimated against past government statistics and gives an indication to organizations not to depend on CEST while evaluating the IR35 status or employment status.

These wrong numbers have left countless contractors and organisations in an in-between state, concerning IR35 compliance.

The tool's shortfalls are not just limited to IR35

CEST is additionally utilised by organisations to evaluate the employment status of sole traders. As can be the situation with IR35, organisations that hire workers as self-employed when their actual status is employed are responsible for missing employment taxes.

The usage of CEST on this part is concerning too. Recently, 712,080 engagements were gone through the tool, it showed 17,645 (20%) uncertain responses. The leftover 55% (392,706) were considered employed and 25% were classed as self-employed engagements.

What do experts have to say about this?

Seb Maley, CEO of IR35 compliance firm Qdos, said “I’m astonished that the government still stands by an IR35 tool that hasn’t been able to make up its mind over 210,000 times. Here we have proof that CEST has left hundreds of thousands of contractors and businesses in limbo, unsure of whether a contract belongs inside or outside of IR35. It should be the final nail in the coffin for this fundamentally flawed tool,”.

Dave Chaplin, CEO of contracting authority ContractorCalculator, “The tool is not aligned with the case law, omits mutuality of obligation, and puts far too much emphasis on the right of substitution, which will skew the data heavily towards more outside determinations – which may not be supported by the evidence, or be defendable at a tax tribunal.”

How can Reliasys help?

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