PCG to fight on despite IR35 loss
The Professional Contractors Group has vowed to continue its campaign against IR35 despite this morning's defeat at the Court of Appeal.
The PCG, which represents more than 14,000 small businesses, said that despite the ruling in favour of the Inland Revenue, it would increase pressure to drive through relevant case law and forge stronger links with clients and industry bodies.
Speaking on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately after the group’s application for a judicial review had been rejected, PCG chairman Jane Akshar said: ‘The judicial review was one part of our overall strategy but was not the whole part. It represented one possible knock-out blow for this unfair legislation.
‘The court has found that IR35 is not illegal, but that is not to say it is right or fair. Tens of thousands of small businesses have to try to operate with the uncertainty and unfairness of it and the PCG will continue to do all we can to remove this unfair burden on small business.
‘For the past few months, we have been preparing to launch a series of legal test cases, which will establish case law where there is currently a vacuum. We will drive through case law which is relevant to the way knowledge-based businesses, such as IT and engineering, operate in the 21st century, rather than the ‘upstairs, downstairs’ rules which belong in the 19th century and are currently in use by the Inland Revenue.’
Links
AccountancyAge.com’s IR35 resource centre