Conservative Party plans IR35 reform

Contractors are likely to welcome a move by the Conservative Party to reform the tax system for self-employed workers, including the controversial issue of IR35.

The tax was brought in by then chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown in 1999 as a means of blocking what was seen as a £900 million tax loophole and is largely unpopular with freelance workers.

Shadow business minister Mark Prisk singled out IR35 as a particularly unfair piece of legislation and accused the government of having a lack of trust for contractors.

He told the Telegraph: "The current government has treated the self-employed disgracefully.

"More often than not they have treated them as if they are on the fiddle, which is wholly unacceptable."

This is something that the Tories are keen to reform, Mr Prisk added.

Groups such as the PCG have campaigned for some time for a review of IR35. Speaking to ContractorCalculator last month, the organisation's managing director John Brazier said repealing the tax remains firmly on its political agenda.

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