Intermediaries: reporting confusion

The first quarterly reports under the new intermediary rules are due to be filed between 6 July and 5 August, but there is widespread confusion about the extent of the rules. HMRC updated its online guidance (http://is.gd/CmbabW) on 6 April, but a major question remains unresolved.

The rules do not only catch ‘agencies’ in the common sense of the word: they extend to any person who makes arrangements for an individual to work for a third party or be paid for work done for a third party. This business, the ‘intermediary’, must return details of all workers it places with clients where it does not operate PAYE on the workers’ payments.

But whe