ITV Services Ltd v HMRC

In ITV Services Ltd v HMRC (Upper Tribunal – 8 February) a television company had until November 2006 treated several actors as employed earners and accounted for Class 1 national insurance contributions on the amounts it paid them. From December 2006 it ceased to account for Class 1 NICs treating the actors as self-employed. HMRC issued determinations charging NICs on the payments. The First-tier Tribunal issued a decision in principle that the company was required to account for NICs in respect of most of the types of contracts except where the actors were ‘engaged to perform a specific role in a specific programme engaged for a specific period of engagement and received a single total inclusive fee’. The company appealed to the Upper Tribunal which upheld the First-tier Tribunal decision. Sales J held that the effect of the standard...