Career Over
I syour career over when you become a contractor now?
The Government have defined new terms such as Controlling Persons and ‘office holders‘.
They say that they are people who have significant control over other people or budget.
Although it doesn‘t define ‘significant‘ one would surmise that Heads of Departments would be ‘office holders‘.
No more rolling contracts for Company Chairmen then in the private sector then.
But who else, further down, is an office holder?
Strengthens IR35
According to Derek Kelly, MD at ClearSky Accounting ‘The draft legislation published today serves to strengthen IR35, and reinforces the principle that someone who is part and parcel of a business will be deemed to be ‘˜inside‘ the legislation.
‘The focus on ‘˜office holders‘, including senior post-holders such as anyone who manages a team or plays a key financial role in an organisation, follows HMRC‘s announcement that it intends to step up policing of IR35’.
Project Managers
Wow!
That‘s not just The IT Director if Derek is right.
What caught my eye there was ‘anyone who manages a team‘.
That would surely include a Project Manager of an IT project or system.
They have a team – and they have a budget effectively.
Are those jobs not out of the remit of IT Contractors?
Project Leaders
What about Project Leaders?
They have a team.
Maybe a Business Analyst might have a team too.
One can see that if Derek believes it goes down to this level then HMRC are to certain to believe that it will go down to Project Manager and Project Leader level.
Taxed as Employees
Does it mean that all jobs where contractors have anyone working for them are now gone to them – or at least they would have to be taxed as an employee.
This will be quite depressing for contractors who will see that they have to remain on the bottom level of the ladder in perpetuity.
It‘s a bit strange the Government deciding which jobs in the private sector can be filled be a contractor and which can be filled by a permanent member of staff.
Surely that is down to individual companies and what they think is best for the company when deciding whether to hire a contractor or a permanent member of staff for a role.
What happens to Contractors who are already Project Managers and maybe haven‘t coded for years?
What do they do now?
