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The financial advice group has claimed hauliers could face large, unexpected tax bills over the coming year, following HMRC's launch of specialist teams to investigate drivers' conditions and employment status.
Grant Thornton partner Ian Carr said his company has witnessed an increasingly hard-line approach to employment status, together with greater scrutiny of tachographs and records supporting overnight and daily subsistence allowances.
“Whereas, in the past, haulier practices had been reviewed but received little in the way of corrective action, HMRC is now focusing on proof of compliance much more than ever before.”
Mr Carr advised that foreign drivers, particularly those from new EU member states, have become a major concern for employers, because the length of workers' engagement is unlikely to be seen as a material factor in any HMRC review of employment status.
“It is relatively easy to see why HMRC are focussing so heavily on employment status,” Ian added. “The marginal National Insurance yield for an employee is close to three times the amount collected from the self-employed, and timing differences also ensure that HMRC receive both the tax and NI earlier for employees.”
