The latest news affecting umbrella companies in the UK. Featuring HMRC, the Agency Workers Directive, the 2003 Agency Regulations, and IR35.
Figures released last Wednesday showed a 0.5% increase in GDP in the first quarter of 2011. This balanced out the drop of 0.5% in the final quarter of last year, which was blamed on the abnormal weather we saw in December.
Accountants claim that HMRC is adopting threatening behaviour towards innocent tax payers and umbrella company contractors in a bid to gather in more income.
Umbrella companies that have been using Employee Benefit Trusts have been offered an amnesty by HMRC. This comes just months after the Revenue said it would be closing EBT schemes down.
IT umbrella company contractors will be relieved to hear that demand for IT professionals is still on the increase, according to the website CWJobs.
Umbrella company contractors may be interested to learn that gas fitters, heating engineers and plumbers will shortly be receiving letters from HMRC informing them of the opportunity to put right their tax affairs.
Umbrella company contractors may be interested to learn that HMRC’s Real Time Information system is to go ahead, starting with a pilot scheme next year.
The draft AWR guidance was issued at the beginning of April and interested parties were given two weeks to provide feedback.
As from October 2012, employers, including umbrella companies, will need to enrol their staff in a pensions scheme automatically.
The Association of Recruitment Consultancies recently held a think-tank meeting to give input into the coalition’s employment tribunal reform consultation.
The chances of companies collapsing are increasing by the month, according to a new study from RSM Tenon.
Public sector financial crime is on the increase and, according to a new report from PwC, this is more likely to be an inside job than the work of an external criminal.
It would appear that people seeking executive jobs in the UK are not as confident that Britain is “open for business” as the Chancellor is.
Umbrella company contractors might be interested to hear that the government will be distributing £450 million of funding over the next few months to deprived areas as part of its regional growth fund initiative.
Business futurologist, Dr James Bellini, believes that UK contractors will see more opportunities for remote and virtual working. He said that growth in these areas should come as no surprise.
UK personal debt has now reached “tipping point” according to a recent report from moneysupermarket.com.
David Cameron caused a certain amount of controversy last week when he promised to reduce the number of immigrants coming to this country to “tens of thousands” per year.
