HMRC told to lay-off construction workers' tax
CIOT says HMRC should enforce the rules it already has
HM Revenue & Customs has been told that plans to toughen up the tax rules
for construction workers should be halted.
The Chartered Institute of Taxation says the plans which would see many more
construction workers taxed as employees are unnecessary and that the taxman
should be properly enforcing rules that already exist.
The HMRC measures are intended to stop what it believes to be the large
number of construction staff who falsely claim to be self-employed for tax
reasons.
Colin Ben-Nathan, Chairman of the CIOT’s Employment Taxes Sub-Committee,
said: “The CIOT is very clear that HMRC should apply the toughest sanctions to
those involved with deliberate falsification and evading tax and NICs.
“But rather than adding further legislation, there needs to be more effective
enforcement of the existing rules. The Government should be directing greater
resources towards enforcement and, where there is evidence of abuse, crack down
hard on evasion.