Employed Or Self Employed?

THE EMPLOYMENT STATUS path is well trodden. However the emphasis now being placed on the contractual relationship between the parties which has primarily evolved out of IR35 cases and employment tribunals has turned that path into a muddy slippery way giving cause for practitioners to rethink their steps when carrying out a case review.

The difficulty comes from there being no definition of what is self employment or employment in the legislation.

Badges of trade

In 1954 the report of the Royal Commission on the taxation of profits and income deduced that trading came under six headings known as the 'badges of trade'. This report was prior to the enactment of capital gains tax on 6 April 1965 and was an attempt to bring transactions within the income tax framework that would have previously been passed off as capital and therefore not taxable. Five...