In Parliament

The Chancellor was asked about the advice offered by the Inland Revenue to businesses which might be affected by IR35. Dawn Primarolo clearly ignorant of the fact that often the 'employer' rather than the 'employee' demands operation through a service company replied that 'genuine businesses are not affected by IR35'. The new rules only applied where without an intermediary such as a service company the worker would be an employee of the client. She said that the Revenue offered a free service 'to anyone who wants advice on the application of the IR35 rules' and that extensive material was available freely on the Revenue website. She did not explain how those without access to the Internet could avail themselves of this material however.

Asked about any discussions the Chancellor might have held with the Professional Contractors Group Ms Primarolo said that there had been...