Can anyone help me with the following? I have been asked by an accountant I do sub-contract work for to help with a client of his who has the following issue:- He runs a business which invloves using self employed people, (landscape gardening I think.) He wants to cover himself from HMRC saying he is liable for any tax/ni due on their part etc, so wants to draw up a contract to that extent. Does anyone have any ideas on where I can find a draft contract that would satisfy this with HMRC? I've looked on the HMRC website, but cannot see anything to use as a example. Thanks.
That industry could come into the CIS realm (doesn't necessarily need to be construction to come in to this).
I think it is unlikely you will find one. You always need to be careful of this issue as presumably you are saying that in reality they should be employees. i.e. the owner is avoiding employers ni. Business Link may have something but you really do need to be wary. Wrong advice could cause some real problems.
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Being a bit ambitious expecting HMRC to provide contracts that potentially avoid tax!
Sorry to be flippant, but HMRC will probably want to argue that the subbies are, in fact, employees.
And sorry again, can't help you with the contract bit, but it shouldn't just have a statement saying 'you are self employed and responsible for your own tax', it should also cover the other classic things that distinguish e'ees from s/e, such as fixed rate rather than hourly rate, which creates an element of finacial risk, who determines when the work is done, provision of tools and equipment, right of substitution, etc..
I am sure this must have been covered before on here, so a search may be in order.
If he was my client I would tell him not to have a contract drawn up as that is more likely to make him liable! Sometimes going the official route can create a problem that may not be there!
If he is dealing with self-employed people he needs to make sure that he gets proper invoices from them as they are "sub-contracting" work from him. That's all he should do - nothing else! Contracts are for employees or between companies.
At a theatre company which is one of my clients they give freelance contracts for specific projects to such as Dance Tutors, Film-makers, Sound engineers etc who are self-employed, I would assume that landscape gardeners would also be classed in this way as they would be only working on a specific project rather than employed to work for the main contractor.
