2013 AUTUMN STATEMENT – more detail

We recently gave you our Autumn Statement summary. Draft legislation has now been published and there now follows further information with more detail on specific areas which we thought you might find helpful.

The further details cover the following areas:

• members of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs)
• employment intermediaries and false self-employment
• changes to the CGT Private Residence Relief deemed occupation rules.

Business Tax

Members of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs)

Since their introduction in 2000, LLPs have become increasingly popular as a vehicle for carrying on a wide variety of businesses. The LLP is a unique entity as it combines limited liability for its members with the tax treatment of a traditional partnership. Individual members are deemed to be self-employed and are taxed as such on their respective profit shares.

The Government now considers that deemed self-employed status is not appropriate in some cases. For example, individuals who would normally be regarded as employees in high-salaried professional areas such as the legal and financial services sectors are benefitting from self-employed status for tax purposes which leads to a loss of employment taxes payable.

The new rules will apply at any time when an individual (M) is a member of an LLP and three conditions are met. The conditions are:

• There are arrangements in place under which M is to perform services for the LLP, in M’s capacity as a member, and it would be reasonable to expect that the amounts payable by the LLP in respect of M’s performance of those services will be wholly, or substantially wholly, disguised salary. An amount is disguised salary if it is fixed or, if is variable, it is varied without reference to the overall profits of the LLP.
• The mutual rights and duties of the members and the LLP and its members do not give M significant influence over the affairs of the LLP.
• M’s contribution to the LLP is less than 25% of the disguised salary. M’s contribution is defined (broadly) as the amount of capital which the individual has contributed to the LLP.

The new regime will have effect from 6 April 2014.

Employment intermediaries and ‘false self-employment’

The Government considers employment intermediaries are increasingly being used to disguise employment as self-employment. The largest business sector affected will be the construction industry. However, there are other sectors such as the driving, catering and security industries where there is evidence of existing permanent employees being taken out of direct employment and being moved into false self-employment arrangements involving intermediaries.

The central proposal is to make a change to the agency legislation. If the agency legislation applies, payments received by a worker are treated as being in consequence of an employment between the intermediary (agency) and worker. This means that the intermediary must deduct PAYE and NIC.

Currently the agency legislation only applies to workers providing their services under the terms of an agency contract. This is defined as:

“A contract made between the worker and the agency under the terms of which the worker is obliged to personally provide services to the client.”

This has led intermediaries to set up contracts which allow the worker to send someone else to do their job and thus it is argued that the worker is not obliged to personally provide services.

The Government proposes removing the obligation for the worker to provide their services personally. Instead the proposal is that the agency legislation will apply where the worker is:

• subject to (or to the right of) control, supervision or direction as to the manner in which the duties are carried out
• providing their services personally
• remunerated as a consequence of providing their services
• receiving remuneration not already taxed as employment income.

It is proposed that this change will be supported by a statutory returns requirement. The intermediary will need to submit a quarterly electronic return containing details of any workers it has placed for whom it is not deducting PAYE and NIC. The aim of this requirement is to allow HMRC to identify possible cases of non-compliance with the new agency legislation.

The legislation will be amended with effect from 6 April 2014.

Comment

The use of intermediaries to facilitate false self-employment started in the construction industry as a way to reduce the risk to contractors of incorrectly engaging workers on a self-employed basis. The Government considers that around 200,000 workers in the construction sector are engaged through intermediaries.

Capital Taxes

CGT – Private Residence Relief

A gain arising on a property which has been an individual’s private residence throughout their period of ownership is exempt from CGT. There are deemed period of occupation rules which may help to provide an exemption from CGT even if the individual was not living in the property at the time. This may mean the individual is accruing private residence relief on another property at the same time.

The final period exemption applies to a property that has been an individual’s private residence at some time even though they may not be living in the property at the time of disposal.

The final period exemption will be reduced from 36 months to 18 months with two exceptions. An individual that is:

• a disabled person or
• a long term resident in a care home, where they have been there for at least three months, or can reasonably be expected to be resident there for three months, and
• has no other property, on which they, or their spouse or civil partner, can claim private residence relief

will continue to be able to claim a 36 month final period exemption.

The amended legislation has effect in relation to disposals:—

• made on or after 6 April 2014, or
• made before that date under a contract, unless the conveyance takes place before 6 April 2015.