Tax status as an agency supply teacher

Jimmithecat

As a teaching supply teacher I have up until recently been paid by an umbrella company - very straightforward but not very cost effective.

I get the majority of my work through teaching agencies.

I have recently moved over from being paid through the umbrella company to PAYE. I registered as self employed with both the teaching agencies and with HMRC and my payslips have changed so that I am no longer paying employers NI. I am paying tax and Personal NI - both of which I would not expect to as I thought I would be paying them directly after my tax return.

My accountant tells me that according to my payslips I am an employee of the agency - the agency tell me that as far as they are concerned I am self employed and they have no other way of paying me without tax and NI.

Any suggestions?

agrinnall

If you've moved to PAYE then you are employed by whoever it states on your payslip. Is that the agency, or is it someone else?

pleasedelete

Self employment may not be an option

http://www.crowehorwath.net/uploadedfiles/uk/industries/not_for_profits/schools/peripatetic%20teacher%20briefing%20v6.pdf

antrobus

Jimmithecat wrote: »

.....My accountant tells me that according to my payslips I am an employee of the agency - the agency tell me that as far as they are concerned I am self employed and they have no other way of paying me without tax and NI.

Any suggestions?

Your accountant is correct and your agency is fibbing.

Jimmithecat

Thank you so much for your replies.

I really don't know what the way forward is now though:(

I have met many supply teachers using the same agencies as me who tell me they are self employed and they just give their accountant a spreadsheet of their expenses annually and they then the accountant complete their tax return for them.

If I don't want to work through an umbrella company but the agency have to keep me as an employee and am happy to pay my tax & NI via a professionally prepared tax return what should my tax status be?

chrismac1

This seems to be a growing feature in the sector. My sister is a lecturer in a Russell Group universtity. The university seemed to wake up one morning and decide that all their staff were self-employed, despite doing none of the basic things required to make this a legal reality.

I helped some of them draft letters to the Principal, no doubt there were others too. Anyhow the whole idiotic scheme was dropped. There really is no excuse for this, given the publicity and scrutiny of this issue in the public sector in the last 5 years.

PlutoinCapricorn

How can people be so ignorant of the rules? I had thought it was only very small companies that did this. I wonder whether the uni would have paid everyone extra to compensate for the holiday pay etc. that the staff would no longer get, or, more likely, paid them the same amount gross so the staff would get the worst of both worlds.

Jimmithecat

So I stay as PAYE with the teaching agency as my employer and fill in a self assessment tax return?
It's making more sense now - thanks for the links above btw - all very useful:beer:

PlutoinCapricorn

If you are paid as an employee and pay tax via PAYE, there is normally no need to complete a self-assessment.