Off-payroll Working
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent consultation HM Revenue and Customs has undertaken with freelance contractors, independent professionals and owner-managed businesses on the operation of the off-payroll working rules.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson
HMRC undertakes a range of engagement activities to understand the needs of customers. This includes attendance at industry events, discussions with interested parties and the quarterly Employment Status and Intermediaries Forum with professional and external representative bodies.
In February 2025, HM Revenue and Customers (HMRC) published an update to its analysis on the impacts of the 2021 off-payroll working rules reform in the private and voluntary sectors.
The analysis sets out the number of workers impacted by the reforms and estimates the reform to have generated around £4.2 billion in additional tax, National Insurance contributions (NICs) and Apprenticeship Levy payments up until the end of March 2023.
There are no current plans to undertake further review of the reforms.
The government is committed to consulting on employment status in due course. The consultation will seek to address issues with the framework that can enable worker exploitation and leave vulnerable workers without core employment protections.
Most independent professionals and small businesses are subject to the relevant income tax, National Insurance and corporation tax regimes relating to trading, and are not treated as employees. There are no current plans to add additional categories of employment status in the tax system.
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