Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of delaying the implementation of the IR35 off-payroll working rules during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government made the decision to delay the reform of the off-payroll working rules until April 2021 in response to the COVID-19 crisis. There is no rationale for further delay. The legislation has now received Royal Assent as part of Finance Act 2020, and the reform will be implemented in April 2021 as announced.

The reform was originally announced at Budget 2018. Many businesses would have been prepared for the reform to be implemented in April 2020 as originally planned, and HMRC have undertaken a significant programme of education and support to ensure that large and medium-sized businesses are ready to implement the reform.

Further delaying implementation of these changes would have very significant drawbacks. It would prolong the fundamental unfairness of taxing two people differently for the same work, in addition to the fiscal cost. It would also extend the disparity between the private and voluntary sectors, and the public sector, where the reform has been in place since 2017.