Are you sure of your worker’s employment status?

Is your self employed worker really self-employed? How do you know? Should he/she be on your payroll? The onus might be on you to educate yourself on your worker’s employment status regardless of what he/she claims.

Ignorance of tax law is not an excuse when the inspector pays you a visit. Ensure you are on the right side by making use of this tool to check who should/should not be on payroll.

HMRC claims that:

When you’ve answered all the questions, the ESI tool will provide an indication of the worker’s employment status. You can rely on the ESI outcome as evidence of a worker’s status for tax/NICs/VAT purposes if both of the following apply:

• your answers to the ESI questions accurately reflect the terms and conditions under which the worker provides their services
• the ESI has been completed by an engager or their authorised representative (if a worker completes the ESI tool the result is only indicative)

However, you should print or save copies of the ‘Enquiry Details’ screen and the ‘ESI Result screen’, bearing the ESI reference mentioned above. If the worker’s employment status is questioned in the future, HM Revenue & Customs will only be bound by the ESI outcome if these copies can be produced.