Kickabout Productions Ltd IR35

The Upper Tribunal’s recent decision to allow HMRC’s appeal in the case of CRC v Kickabout Productions Ltd [2020] UKUT 216 (TCC) might be seen as a significant development in the recent run of IR35 cases especially those concerning media celebrities. What is particularly striking is that it is only the second of these cases to reach the Upper Tribunal so far – the other being Christa Ackroyd Media v CRC [2019] UKUT 326 – and at that level of the judicial hierarchy it takes the score to two-nil in favour of HMRC.

Does that mean therefore that HMRC was right all along in all these cases and that following this ‘knockout’ media celebrities should now rush to settle on HMRC’s terms and avoid further public attention on their tax affairs? In a single word I would answer those previous...