Lessons from HMRC’s latest IR35 defeats

Following two defeats over IR35, HMRC appears to be struggling to apply the controversial tax rule, but each case should be judged on the facts and the whole picture, warns Caroline Harwood, head of share plans and reward at Crowe

When HMRC won its tribunal case against Christa Ackroyd Media a little over a year ago, it said that this was likely to be the first of up to 100 similar actions to be taken against TV presenters in relation to IR35 and their personal service companies (PSC).

However, since then HMRC has lost five of the six cases taken on IR35 issues. Perhaps the most notable are Albatel Limited v Revenue & Customs UKFTT 195 (the ‘Lorraine Kelly case’) and very recently Atholl House Productions Limited v Revenue & Customs UKFTT 242, in which HMRC sought to apply IR35 in respect of Kaye Adams’ role with the BBC.

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