'Don’t Tweet if you want your director salary paid during furloughed periods'

Tweeting could be enough to jeopardise a limited company director’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim, as the online activity could breach the scheme’s ‘no work’ condition.

Such is the alert from a top accountant, who says that on top of just snookering a claim for 80% of the company director’s salary, posting online could even lead to a fraud charge.  

“Be really careful…because if you claim for it and you’re then posting on social media, HMRC could find out and that could be deemed as fraud,” said the accountant, Carrie Stokes.

“It’s a really grey area,” she continued in a v-log.

Fraud alert: Tweeting a single message on the social network could be enough to snooker a director’s CJRS claim and even trigger an HMRC enquiry, according to a top accountant.

“[Remember], statutory duties are really limited so if as a director you are still talking to customers; you are still talking to suppliers; you are still busting a gut to keep your business going; you’re still marketing your business to keep your business going and you’re still posting on social media; unfortunately you won’t be able to claim”.

The accountant was referring to HM Treasury specifying that statutory and administrative duties can be carried out by directors who furlough themselves, “so long as that is all they are doing,” Claer Barrett of the Financial Times clarified in a Q&A yesterday.

Sounding aware of the ‘grey area,’ the Treasury’s Ben Kerry said in a similar webinar: “One of the key conditions of the furlough scheme is that the employee is not allowed to work for the employer.

“But if you’re the owner-manager and you do have statutory duties, then you can continue to undertake those duties while being on furlough.”

Simon says: To read my story in full visit ContractorUK.

HSBC to stop hiring limited company workers in 2019 due to IR35 changes in 2020/21

HSBC will cease engaging limited company workers from this September, saving itself the job of having to assess them under a new IR35 from April 2020, Moore News can reveal.

The bank has told all ‘Ltd’ suppliers at key units like HSBC Digital that after one further contract extension, they must choose between being terminated or becoming employees.

PHOTO CREDIT: INSIDERMONKEY.COM

Ultimatum: To head off the hassle of having to decide their IR35 status, Britain’s largest bank has told its limited company suppliers to join the payroll — or be jobless.

But HSBC has sweetened its ultimatum for some of the suppliers by putting them on a so-called ‘keep’ list, in which case they can stay on — as long as they work via a third-party from September.

The thinking is that HSBC will remove itself from the incoming obligation for the bank to decide IR35 status, by making the workers staff or another party’s supplier. Or just by axing them.

“Culling a flexible workforce and replacing them with employees will remove any IR35 concerns for HSBC,” status advisory Qdos Contractor confirmed last night.

“But it’s a worryingly short-sighted approach to dealing with IR35 reform [akin to] using a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

Simon says: To read my story in full visit ContractorUK.

TfL bans limited company workers ahead of public sector IR35 changes

Transport for London has become the first public sector body to react to April 2017’s incoming IR35 reforms by imposing a blanket ban on workers who operate through their own limited company.

Under the reforms, such bodies will -- for the first time -- become responsible for the difficult decision of assessing whether their limited company personnel are caught by IR35.

PHOTO CREDIT: MARC BARROT

Signalling issue: Limited company workers will hope that the London transport body’s pre-emptive response to IR35 reforms is not copied by other taxpayer-funded bodies.

But TfL is heading off both having to use an IR35 digitial tool, which is due to be released by HMRC to help end-users with the assessment, and from having to make the decision itself.

It is also saving itself from the unenviable prospect of penalties for a ‘wrong’ decision (one that HMRC disagrees with), as TfL will simply no longer have any ‘Ltd’ staff to assess.

“We won’t allow limited company workers to continue working for us,” TfL said in an internal memo, sent to some of its 2,300 off-payroll staff, but obtained by Moore News.

“The risk prohibits anyone who might be considered to come under IR35 continuing beyond 6th April”. The local government body added that “converting to PAYE or Umbrella worker status” would be required to continue work beyond April 6th.

Simon says: To read my story in full visit ContractorUK.