Managed Service Company legislation and HMRC’s inquiries into two accountancy service providers (ASPs) are currently ruining the lives of up to two-thousand business owners.
We are actively supporting around forty-five IPSE members who are caught up in this nightmare brought about by HMRC's aggressive enforcement of legislation that was designed for a completely different purpose.
About a year ago, they each received a highly technical ‘Regulation 80 notice’ from HMRC explaining that the accountant they had been using was, in HMRC's opinion, a 'Managed Service Company Provider' (MSCP).
This means - according to HMRC - that each of their clients, including contractors like you, are in fact Managed Service Companies (MSCs). The Regulation 80 notices state that employment taxes are therefore due on all income received via the MSCP.
Earlier this year, one of our affected members drafted an anonymous blog as part of our Secret Contractor series which outlined the truly devastating impact of these MSC investigations. You can read their personal story here.
Read their story
At IPSE, we share contractors' concerns at how HMRC have carried out these investigations, and worry that any contractor using a specialist accountancy services provider could potentially get caught up in future investigations. It cannot be right that the smallest businesses in this country are targeted for simply engaging an accountant when navigating the notoriously complex tax system.
This is where you come in. We’ve asked you to write to your MP before on issues such as IR35, and many of you have – thank you. It would help us enormously if you would do so again, as MPs are chiefly concerned with what their constituents are saying.
You could also contact your MP via social media to tell why you are concerned about the investigations (but don't forget: please keep your comments civil and constructive.)
If you don’t know who your local MP is or need their contact information, you can find out by using the finder below.
We've put together a template letter which outlines the key arguments for halting these MSC investigations, which you can download below and alter as you see fit.
If you are already in receipt of a Reg 80 determination and wish to contact your MP, please contact [email protected] and we can send you a different version of the template letter.
Add your voice to ours by writing to your MP.
