Alan Parry, the popular anchor of Sky Sports, has been faced with a £356,420 due on taxation. This was on the judgement given which stated that his terms of work were same as a contract of hire.
The tribunal declared that the coherence of control and duty trials had been fulfilled.
This is in comparison with the past five tax years, commencing 2013-14 upto 2018-19. During the course, HMRC had set forth that Parry's contract did not adhere to IR35 regulations.
Similar to media professionals, Parry worked for for BSkyB via his firm, through which he earned a remuneration and a share.
As per the contract with BSkyB, Parry would commentate on football matches. This needed him to be free to commit. They would let another anchor in, only if would not be available.
BSkyB would put each match on air. Thereby, Parry needed to interact with the director and producer whenever he would commentate on a match.
Although Parry commentated on his own and claimed not to be under direct control by BSkyB, the judge ruled that Parry was also frequently controlled by BSkyB, in various mannerisms. Thus, this would be considered as a direct employment as Barry functioned for BSkyB as a permanent employee, and not as an independent contractor.
Therefore, the judgement was given against Parry. He stated that Parry was indeed, employed by BSkyB.
Additionally, in the tax years to be considered, the majority of Parry's income sources were from BSkyB. Hence, he could not have been an independent contractor, as he was indeed a permanent employee.
It is indeed a fine line between being an independent contractor and a permanent employee. Don’t risk being targeted by HMRC for that reason. Instead, insure your compliance and hire an excellent team of accountants & tax advisors to help you become more tax-efficient.
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