The gig economy has been in the headlines almost constantly through the last few years, and now, it’s PAYE back time.
How so? Well, many of the stories about gig workers are about how they are treated unfairly and taken advantage of…but if these giggers get their way then they are really going to make their employers PAYE.
Fed up with filing their own tax returns, many gig workers are now suggesting that a system similar to “PAYE” should be introduced into the gig economy, which would mean employers automatically take tax from their pay packets.
“No more tax returns for me,” is what thousands of gig workers will be shouting around the country if these changes do come into effect.
Less stress, and no hassle. Just cash into their bank account and then into their back pockets.
The calls for PAYE have been backed up by The Office for Tax Simplification, or OTS for short, who have recently said that companies who hire gig workers should use PAYE to “fulfil the tax obligations of their workers.”
Make no mistake about it, these gig workers will still be classed as self employed and working for themselves. It’s just there will be no making tax digital nonsense or this filing a tax return 4 times a year madness. Not for gig workers. They can relax and let other people handle all of that stuff for them.
OTS even produced a fancy research paper to back up their claims which they have entitled – “Platforms, the Platform Economy and Tax Simplification.”
It certainly sounds like a good read, and if I ever get a spare half an hour or so then I may just give it a flick through.
If you are a gig worker then you might want to pick yourself up a copy and give it a browse.
Right now, as we speak, there is an estimated 5 million people in the UK who are classed as self employed, and out of those 5 million, it is thought around 1.2 million are working in the gig economy.
So that’s over 20% of our nations self employed who could benefit from going down a PAYE style route, although according to OTS it would not be mandatory
It “would be optional,” said a spokesperson for OTS.
Not everybody is impressed though, with many accountancy firms hitting back and claiming it would only create “confusion” in the gig economy world.
Maybe it would and maybe it wouldn’t. I suppose the only way to find out would be to give PAYE a try and then see what happens.
