Readers’ forum: Status decisions

My client is a building company (A Ltd) that does not meet the small criteria under the Companies Act and I therefore need to be able to explain the forthcoming IR35 changes to them. The work is carried out by subcontractors working through their own limited companies (say B Ltd).

If my client company is painting 100 houses on a building site for a major national builder (C Ltd) it seems clear that the responsibility for assessing IR35 will lie with that national builder. However if my client is contracted to paint Joe Bloggs’ house to my mind the ‘end user’ is Joe Bloggs who will not be asked to make the decision on IR35. In those circumstances does this mean that the new rules will not apply to this chain of supply?

Alternatively because Joe Bloggs is not a...