Should my client be filing intermediary reports?

Does a security company using some self employed staff qualify as an intermediary?

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I have recently taken on a new client who operates a security company supplying security staff to universities, festivals, trading estates etc. 

The vast majority of my client’s staff are employed and put through the PAYE scheme, but they also have a few who work on a self-employed basis that invoice my client for their time at the end of the month.  Some will cover ad hoc shifts – when a PAYE staff member is sick, for example – and some will have longer term, more regular shifts. 

My question is, is my client an employment intermediary who should be filing intermediary reports with HMRC? 

I don’t know if it makes any difference, but as far as I am aware, none of the self-employed staff work full time for my client, and all have other employment or their own businesses.

All of them can work different hours and be sent to work at different sites, depending on the needs of my client and which sites need cover. 

The contracts are between my client and the people they provide the security for.  My client will invoice their clients for the sites they have provided security to, and will then pay the self employed invoices when received.

Reading the HMRC guidance I am still not sure whether my client needs to file returns to be honest as they are not an employment/recruitment agency in the traditional sense, but I realise that the intermediary legislation stretches wider than that.

Apologies if I am being stupid or missing something obvious, I probably should not have tried to read the details on the hottest day of the year.

If any one can point me in the right direction, speak from experience, or interpret the legislation more definitively it would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Replies (3)

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By Tax Dragon
08th Aug 2020 07:06

What HMRC guidance are you looking at? Manuals? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-intermediaries-rep...? Other?

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
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By AJF499
08th Aug 2020 10:45

Hi, yes that is what I have read through, plus a couple of posts about it on the some of the bigger firms on their sites, but still not sure to be honest.

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Replying to AJF499:
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By Tax Dragon
08th Aug 2020 11:48

Ok let's take that guidance line by line and see if we can work out where the difficulty/uncertainty lies. Does your client make arrangements for any individual to work for a third party (such as one of your client's clients)?

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