Employee or self-employed?

The taxpayer worked for a company that supplied doors windows and conservatories. It treated him as self-employed but he claimed he was an employee. He was paid a weekly wage and commission. He had no written contract of remuneration terms but he had signed an agreement to be responsible for his own tax and National Insurance.

However the taxpayer said he should not have been asked to sign the document because it did not reflect the true situation. The company’s salesmen were self-employed but he was not a salesman; he had been taken on by the firm to generate leads which he passed to the area manager.

HMRC issued assessments to the taxpayer on the basis he was self-employed. The taxpayer appealed.

The First-tier Tribunal decided he was an employee: he was not permitted to send a substitute if he was unable to work;...