Upper Tribunal in RALC Consulting Ltd

In the article ‘Rough tax justice’ (Taxation 19 December 2019) we explored the IR35 tax tribunal victory (the decision) of IT contractor Richard Alcock and his company RALC Consulting Ltd where ‘Team RALC’ successfully argued that his engagements with clients Accenture and DWP fell outside the intermediaries legislation (ITEPA 2003 Chapter 8).

In that commentary we highlighted the difficulties faced by the taxpayer throughout the case including HMRC’s reluctance to disclose key evidence its dismissal of compelling arguments and its pursuit of the case despite the strength of the taxpayer’s position. We expressed concern that the power balance in IR35 cases is heavily weighted in HMRC’s favour placing significant financial strain on genuine small businesses; and also for the need for government intervention and regulatory measures to protect taxpayers from unreasonable IR35 assessments by HMRC.

HMRC was permitted to appeal the...