Fitting together the intermediaries legislation

Michael Jackson sang: ‘I’m starting with the man in the [middle] I’m asking him to change his ways.’

We have changed the word in brackets – from mirror – but other than that it seems that the government and HMRC have heeded the singer’s advice with employment intermediary structures a sharp focus of activity for some time.

There is now a significant body of legislation in this area. This article considers how it fits together and what might happen if an intermediary fails to ‘change its ways’. Statutory references are to ITEPA 2003 unless otherwise specified.

Overview of the legislation

While a lot has been written about the agencies legislation the managed service company legislation and (especially) IR35 and the off-payroll legislation for understandable reasons much of this has been a technical breakdown of how each piece of the legislation works in...