An actor’s life

Personal service company and National Insurance liability

Big Bad Wolff was the personal service company of G and his wife. He was an actor and provided his services to clients through the company until 2011. After that he stopped using the company and provided his services directly.

The issue was the correct statutory construction of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act (SSCBA) 1992 s 4A the Intermediaries Regulations SI 2000/727 reg 6 and the application of the Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) Regulations SI 1978/1689.

The First-tier Tribunal said the clear intention of parliament in enacting s 4A had been to prevent the avoidance of National Insurance by the use of an intermediary or personal service company. Before that a worker who would otherwise have been employed would avoid contributions by deploying an intermediary company to supply his services to the client.

In...