Facts are finely balanced in favour of self-employment

Atholl House Productions Ltd was the personal service company of Kaye Adams who provided services for the BBC and other media organisations. She also wrote columns for national newspapers and carried out corporate events.

During 2015-16 and 2016-17 Ms Adams presented a daily morning programme The Kaye Adams Show on BBC Radio Scotland. HMRC claimed that for those years although she was not an employee of the BBC the intermediaries legislation applied so that the fees her company received from the BBC should be treated as employment income with the company accounting for tax and National Insurance under PAYE.

The taxpayer appealed. The First-tier Tribunal’s decision in favour of the taxpayer was upheld in the Upper Tribunal. HMRC then appealed to the Court of Appeal which ruled that the Upper Tribunal had erred in law and remitted the case to the Upper Tribunal to remake...