Doctor doing extra work for the same hospital

Suda

I would be very grateful for some insight to this issue.

I am working as a hospital consultant- 12 sessions during a working week and additional oncall. Due to the long waiting lists for patients to be seen and operated, I was asked to do some extra sessions called Waiting List Initiative sessions some time back. This work done in the evenings and in the weekends came up to about 10% of my total salary for the tax year 2010/11. These extra payments are specifically mentioned as such in each salary slip, but only the total of normal salary and these payments are given in one P60 at the end of the year.

I am wondering whether this work would qualify for self employment because it is outside my normal NHS contract. If these could be considered as self-employed work, would it be worth registering as a company, for some tax relief and to get more expenses through?

Many thanks for your help

somethingcorporate

Registering as a company is not the same as being self-employed.

There are rules against registering as a company just for the tax benefit when in effect you are still an employee.

The self-employed element would certainly be a possibility but what expenses do you expect to be able to offset? Unless you have anything significant I doubt it would be worth your time.

Have a talk to some of your colleagues and find out what they do. Then have a chat to an accountant to discuss your options if you think it is worth pursuing.

zzzLazyDaisy

What you are describing is unlikely to be treated by HMRC as self-employment.

In any case, I suggest that HCSA would be better able to advise you on this issue

http://www.hcsa.com/

fuzzybear01

If you could do this then all the nurses working on the bank would be able to do the same? I'm not sure what the difference would be? You're still an employee as such.

Suda

Somethingcorporate and ZZZlazyDaizy,
Many thanks for your prompt advice.
Due to the necessity for revalidation, I go for few meetings courses to keep my skills up to date and buy books that are not available in the hospital library. Regards to other expenses, I am aware that normal travelling to a work place can not be claimed as work related expenses, but wondered whether travel for the extra work in the evening and weekends could be claimed.

I understand that I am still an employee and these may not amount to much and might not be worth the hassle. Shall speak to colleagues and see.

chrismac1

This sort of thing seems to be a feature in the NHS these days. I have two doctors on my books both running limited companies for different reasons, though one is currently striking his off because he has returned to full-time employment. In both cases I have "kicked the tyres" on IR35 before embarking on forming their companies. Three key issues:

1. Is there an ongoing relationship? My clients can be laid off at short notice, and both have evidence of being denied shifts and so on. So at the very least we have some sort of case there.
2. Is there a substitution clause which is operable? Neither of my clients is required to find a substitute should they be taken ill, and I doubt very much whether most one-person band operations in the healthcare sector would have to find one under their contracts.
3. How much direction and control is there? My clients have set shifts but a great deal of personal control over the way the work is carried out, no real supervision from their "employer". So in my view a strong case here.

On some of the lesser tests, neither client has any real commercial risk - but neither has a notice period, they are working for up to 6 trusts and out of hours providers, they are outwith the NHS pension scheme and other benefits such as holiday pay. So overall I am not an IR35 specialist but I can at least mount a credible initial defence of any challenge of "false self-employment" and both clients are fully insured so we can get in an iR35 speciailist to fight their corners if needs be and the costs will all be covered.

I recommend Googling "false self-employment" and "IR35" and also having quiet conversations with colleagues. With the first client who is now back on PAYE, I used to regularly get calls and e-mails from 3 of his colleagues anything up to 11pm at night asking me about various aspects of tax and company law.

jimmo

Many employees work their contracted hours and do overtime. I am struggling to see your own situation as being any different to that.
As far as I can tell from what you have posted you are basically doing similar work in your “day job” and in the “Waiting List Initiative” sessions.
In red tape terms your normal salary probably comes from one NHS budget and your “Waiting List Initiative” sessions come from another NHS budget but the overall reality is that all payments you receive come from your employer for work done for your employer.
As a bit of a back up to that the Tax Case Mudd vs. Collins established that payments for additional duties are chargeable to tax as earnings from the employment (or office).
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM00730.htm
In that case the additional duties were totally unrelated to the normal duties of the office or employment and were still chargeable as employment income so, in your case, it would be a real struggle for you to establish that the “Waiting List Initiative” is something different to your employment.
Incidentally, you will see that Mudd vs. Collins carries a reference to 9TC297.
That is Volume 9 of published tax cases page 297.
It’s a bit of a guess from me but I would think that that case was heard in the House of Lords in the late 1800s or early 1900s and easily pre dates IR35.
On the basis that your work under the Waiting List Initiative is more or less overtime you have absolutely no chance of claiming tax relief for expenses.

Pennywise

I think you're trying to compare yourself with NHS consultants who also have separate limited companies for their "PRIVATE" work rather than simply extra NHS work. It's fairly common for consultants to use a limited company for their private patients who are normally seen at private hospitals or private consulting rooms - where the consultant has to pay room hire and staffing costs towards the receptionist, nurse, etc. Unless the NHS is charging you for the use of their facilities, i.e. room, equipment, staff, etc., then you can't claim that the extra income you earn is self-employment. As others have said, it's simply doing more of the same for the same employer. As for your expenses, you should be able to claim tax relief for books and courses against your taxable income from employment IF they are necessary for you to keep your job.