A recent tribunal ruling involving BBC News presenters Tim Willcox and Joanna Gosling has revealed that HMRC has opened enquiries into the employment status and possible tax avoidance of around 100 other on-air presenters.
‘Freelance’ status
The case against Mr Willcox and Ms Gosling relates to whether the pair were eligible to pay tax as freelancers through their own personal service companies, or whether they should have paid as employees of the BBC under legislation known as IR35. HMRC reportedly reviewed the tax affairs of nearly 500 current and former BBC employees before whittling down the field to around one hundred ‘under consideration’ cases. Though both Mr Willcox and Ms Gosling became official BBC staff in 2014 after the introduction of a more precise employment status test at the broadcaster, the pair reportedly paid tax as freelancers between 2006 and early 2013.
Test cases
Both Mr Willcox and Ms Gosling are appealing a ruling which found that both failed to pay enough tax during that time period due to their misclassification as freelancers. ‘The appeals are likely to be the first cases to test the freelance model in the broadcasting industry against the IR35 legislation,’ reads a recent BBC application to the First-Tier Tribunal considering the case.
Freshfields advising
Freshfields has reportedly been advising the BBC throughout the ongoing tax dispute, which has potential industry-wide ramifications for the employment status of those within British broadcasting who work on a freelance or self-employed basis. A statement from the Magic Circle firm said: ‘The BBC continues to be willing to participate in the [HMRC] proceedings provided it can do so on an impartial basis and in a way which appropriately protects its own interests and those of its staff and on-air talent.’
Sources: Legal Business; The Guardian; BBC
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