Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of HMRC in enforcing the agency regulations when collecting PAYE tax from agencies.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Agencies must deduct Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) at source from payments of earnings to agency workers. HMRC’s processes for collecting any Income Tax and NICs due from agencies under Pay As You Earn (PAYE) are the same as those for other employers.
Where HMRC finds that a UK agency has failed to account for Income Tax and NICs in circumstances where the agency rules apply to them, it will usually seek to recover unpaid amounts due from them. Whether the agency rules apply in a particular case is dependent on the facts of that case.