Am I being screwed over by 'employer'?

agrinnall

I'd be pretty confident that HMRC would see you as an employee. Your boss is evading tax by not paying employer's NI, and is making you a party to his illegal actions (it may not impact you though). You owe him nothing, find another, proper, job and leave him to sink or swim as soon as possible.

Carl31

Use the Employment status indicator tool on HMRC website, the outcome can be used to support any claim you might make about your status

If you challenge your employer though, be prepared to lose your job, it sounds like hes happy to accept cheap labour, but not prepared to make sure hes above board with it all, which he isnt by the sounds

General_Grant

Guest101 wrote: »

With all that said: it does sound like you're an employee and HMRC may come down on both of you

I don't know what you mean by "come down on". The OP would surely be deemed by HMRC to be an employee and therefore his income from this arrangement should be considered as nett pay after deduction of tax and NI by the employer.

So the employer would have to hand over the tax and NI deducted and the OP should get a refund. Is that not the case?

Prothet_of_Doom

eharveyart wrote: »

Thanks for your help

Its very awkward as we have a good relationship with him as the business is very small. I run the day to day activities of the studio for him and I know he would struggle if I left.

You have a good relationship with someone who SHOULD (and almost definitely does) know better.

I see work as a 2 way exploitation, but at the moment the exploitation is a bit one sided. You are making someone else rich whilst he !!!!!! on you.

Have you googled "IR35 Employment Tests HMRC" yet ?

I guess that you'll know what the answer is by now ?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-status-indicator

http://www.rossmartin.co.uk/employers/essential-know-how/171-employment-status

http://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/IR35_Test_Start.aspx

So DO you want to be Self Employed ? Or would you like employee status ? Because if you like the idea of more than one client, then why not use this as the opportunity to do it properly?

Perhaps form a ltd company, perhaps get Flat Rate Vat registered, perhaps employ other people to carry out some of the work, and finally charge the correct going rate and DON'T undersell yourself.

All this can be done in a professional manner, and he might prefer it in the long run.

Prothet_of_Doom

eharveyart wrote: »

Thanks so much for replying.

I have to ask for time off however I do get paid a set amount each month even if I do have a day off.


I dont invoice him per day I just invoice a set amount a month.

I understand I cant force him to hire me, but do I have the right to work for others? I think thats my biggest issue. I was offered work at another studio but was told I couldnt do it by my current boss.

I'm freelance (ltd company) and I TRY to let the client(s) know when I'm taking time off, in advance, but vary my actual hours on a whim (like today the sun was shining so I decided to go running and I'll work more hours tomorrow - can't afford to throw money away) Obviously I try not to impact the project I'm working on, so at the moment one client has a deadline looming with his customer, who has made promises to his customer, so I'm not about the take a week off, because the deadline would be missed, but the client knows that I have other clients too (although not direct competitors I have to add)

Because of the nature of what I am being asked to do by one client, it would be difficult to offer a fixed price for that work, so I charge by the hour - they wanted to do it by the day, but I didn't want that and held firm.
With another client, I offer a fixed price for training, including the venue, the training materials, and lunch. That way I hide what I'm paying myself, although they could work it out with a bit of effort.

If you are paid by the month, that's a proper salaried job.

As for doing work for others, firstly don't discuss any other clients work or ask permission, secondly don't accept a contract that says you can't work for his competition (although I'd expect you to agree to a confidentiality clause) and thirdly, do as much work away from the clients site if at all possible.

skintpaul

Work out what a package rate would be, to include paid holiday, pension etc, and bill them that rate.