Journalist was an employee

Services provided through a personal service company

Christa Ackroyd was a television journalist who worked at the BBC under two fixed-term contracts between the corporation and Christa Ackroyd Media Ltd (CAM) a personal service company. HMRC said that under the intermediaries legislation (IR35) Ms Ackroyd’s status under the deemed contract between her and the BBC would be an employee. It had issued determinations and imposed penalties on that basis. Ms Ackroyd considered she was a self-employed contractor.

The First-tier Tribunal summed up the issue: ‘If the services provided by Ms Ackroyd were provided under a contract directly between the BBC and Ms Ackroyd would Ms Ackroyd be regarded for income tax purposes as an employee of the BBC?’ It referred to the conditions required for a contract of service in Ready Mixed Concrete (South East) Ltd v Minister of Pensions and National Insurance ([1968] 2 QB 497).

The first...