Implications of the Upper Tribunal decision in the Kaye Adams IR35 case

The Kaye Adams case is the latest in a long line of appeals to the Upper Tribunal (UT) against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) involving the off-payroll working rules (often referred to as IR35 or the intermediaries legislation). It concerned the application of that legislation to arrangements entered into by the personal service company (PSC) of Kaye Adams a journalist and broadcaster and resulted in success for the taxpayer.

The facts

The dispute related to the tax years 2015-16 and 2016-17 during which the PSC and BBC Radio Scotland made two successive written contracts under which the PSC agreed in return for payment to provide Ms Adams to present a radio show called The Kaye Adams Show.

HMRC formed the view that the arrangement fell within the intermediaries legislation. As a result HMRC’s view was that even though Ms Adams...