The Social Security Contributions (Intermediaries) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2020

Amendment of the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001 U.K.

3.—(1) Schedule 4 of the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001 M1 is amended as follows.

(2) In Part 2—

(a) in paragraph 7(1A) M2 for “fee-payer” in both places it appears, substitute “ deemed employer ”, and

(b) after paragraph 7(1A) insert—

“(1B) In sub-paragraph (1A) “chain payment”, “deemed direct earnings” and “deemed employer” have the meanings given in regulations 14(2)(a), 14(3) and 20(5) respectively of the Social Security Contributions (Intermediaries) Regulations 2000.”.

(3) After Part 3A M3 (Debts of Managed Service Companies) insert—

“PART 3AA U.K.

DEBTS ARISING UNDER PART 2 OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTIONS (INTERMEDIARIES) REGULATIONS 2000

Recovery from relevant persons

29LA.— (1) A deemed employer NICs debt may be recovered from a relevant person but this is subject to sub-paragraph (2).

(2) A deemed employer NICs debt may only be recovered from a person described in paragraph (a) of the definition of relevant person in sub-paragraph (3) if an officer of Revenue and Customs considers there is no realistic prospect of recovery of all or part of it within a reasonable period of time from a person described in paragraph (b) of that definition.

(3) In this Part—

“deemed employer NICs debt” means an amount—

(a)

that a person (“the deemed employer”) is liable to pay under Schedules 4 and 4A in consequence of being treated under regulation 14(3) of the Intermediaries Regulations as having made a payment of deemed direct earnings to a worker, and

(b)

that an officer of Revenue and Customs considers there is no realistic prospect of recovering from the deemed employer within a reasonable period;

“Intermediaries Regulations” means the Social Security Contributions (Intermediaries) Regulations 2000;

“relevant person”, in relation to a deemed employer NICs debt, means a person who is not the deemed employer and who—

(a)

is the highest person in the chain identified under regulation 14(1) of the Intermediaries Regulations in determining that the deemed employer is to be treated as having made the payment of deemed direct earnings, or

(b)

is the second highest person in that chain and is a qualifying person (within the meaning given by regulation 14(8) of the Intermediaries Regulations) at the time the deemed employer is treated as having made that payment of deemed direct earnings.

Recovery of deemed employer NICs debt

29LB.— (1) HMRC may not recover a deemed employer NICs debt in accordance with paragraph 29LA(1) unless it has given a recovery notice to the relevant person during the relevant period.

(2) No recovery of a deemed employer NICs debt may be made—

(a) if the deemed employer NICs debt relates to a year commencing before 6th April 2021, or

(b) if the deemed employer is also “the client” described in regulation 13(1)(a) of the Intermediaries Regulations.

(2) For the purposes of this Part, a “recovery notice” means a notice which complies with paragraph 29LD.

The relevant period

29LC.— (1) In this Part, the “relevant period” in relation to a deemed employer NICs debt means the period beginning in accordance with sub-paragraph (2) and ending in accordance with sub-paragraph (3).

(2) The relevant period begins—

(a) upon the expiry of the period of 30 days beginning with the day on which the decision under section 8(1)(c) of the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) Act 1999 M4 determining the amount referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of deemed employer NICs debt in paragraph 29LA(3) becomes final and conclusive, or

(b) when an officer of Revenue and Customs becomes aware of sufficient information to make a decision under section 8(1)(c) of the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) Act 1999 in relation to the amount referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of deemed employer NICs debt in paragraph 29LA(3), but considers that it would be impractical to make such a decision on account of the liquidation, dissolution or other incapacity of the deemed employer.

(3) The relevant period ends upon the expiry of the period of 12 months beginning with the day on which the period begins.

Contents of recovery notice

29LD.— (1) A recovery notice must contain the following information—

(a) the name and address of the deemed employer to whom the deemed employer NICs debt relates;

(b) the name of “the worker” for the purposes of regulation 13(1)(a) of the Intermediaries Regulations to whom the deemed employer NICs debt relates;

(c) the amount of the deemed employer NICs debt;

(d) the tax periods to which the deemed employer NICs debt relates;

(e) if the tax periods to which the deemed employer NICs debt relates are comprised in more than one year, the apportionment of the deemed employer NICs debt between those years;

(f) the date on which the relevant period in relation to the deemed employer NICs debt began and whether the period began in accordance with paragraph 29LC(2)(a) or (b);

(g) the relevant person's name and address;

(h) whether the relevant person is a person described in paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition of relevant person in paragraph 29LA(3).

(2) The recovery notice must also contain a statement, made by the officer of Revenue and Customs giving the notice, that the officer is of the view that there is no realistic prospect of recovering the deemed employer NICs debt within a reasonable period from—

(a) the deemed employer; and

(b) the person mentioned in paragraph (b) of the definition of relevant person in paragraph 29LA(3) in the case of a recovery notice given to a person mentioned in paragraph (a) of that definition.

Payment of deemed employer NICs debt and interest

29LE.— (1) The relevant person must pay the amount of the deemed employer NICs debt to HMRC within 30 days beginning with the date on which the notice is given.

(2) Interest accruing on the deemed employer NICs debt by virtue of section 101 of the Finance Act 2009 M5 after expiry of the period of time mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) shall be treated as chargeable to the relevant person under that section.

Appeals

29LF.— (1) A person who is given a recovery notice in relation to a deemed employer NICs debt may appeal against the notice on one or more of the grounds set out in sub-paragraph (3).

(2) A notice of appeal must—

(a) be given to HMRC within 30 days beginning with the day the recovery notice is given, and

(b) specify the grounds of the appeal.

(3) The grounds of appeal are—

(a) that all or part of the amount specified in the notice in accordance with paragraph 29LD(1)(c) does not relate to a deemed employer NICs debt;

(b) that there is a realistic prospect of recovering the deemed employer NICs debt from the deemed employer within a reasonable period of time;

(c) that there is a realistic prospect of recovering the deemed employer NICs debt from the person described in paragraph (b) of the definition of relevant person in paragraph 29LA(3) within a reasonable period of time;

(d) that the person is not a relevant person in respect of the deemed employer NICs debt;

(e) that the recovery notice was not given within the relevant period;

(f) that the recovery notice does not satisfy the requirements specified in paragraph 29LD.

(4) But a person may not appeal on the ground mentioned in sub-paragraph (3)(a) if it has already been determined, on an appeal, that the deemed employer NICs debt is payable by the deemed employer.

(5) Subject to sub-paragraph (6), on an appeal that is notified to the tribunal, the tribunal may uphold or quash the recovery notice.

(6) In a case in which the ground of appeal mentioned in sub-paragraph (3)(a) is raised, the tribunal may also reduce or increase the amount specified in accordance with paragraph 29LD(1)(c) so that it does relate to a deemed employer NICs debt.

Withdrawal of recovery notices

29LG.— (1) A recovery notice is withdrawn if the tribunal quashes it.

(2) An officer of Revenue and Customs may withdraw a recovery notice if the officer considers it appropriate to do so.

(3) If a recovery notice is withdrawn in accordance with sub-paragraph (2), HMRC must give notice of that fact to the person to whom the notice was given.

Application of Part 6 of TMA

29LH.   Part 6 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 M6 (collection and recovery) applies as if—

(a) the amount of the deemed employer NICs debt were income tax charged on the relevant person,

(b) the recovery notice were an assessment, and

(c) the giving of the recovery notice were the matter complained of for the purposes of section 65(3) of that Act M7 .”.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 3 in force at 6.4.2021, coming into force in accordance with reg. 1(2)

Marginal Citations

M1 SI 2001/1004.

M2 Paragraph 7(1A) was inserted by S.I. 2017/373.

M3 Part 3A was inserted by S.I. 2007/2068. There are amendments to it but none is relevant to these Regulations.

M4 1999 c. 2.

M5 2009 c. 10; section 101 was amended by paragraph 20(2) of Schedule 22 to the Finance Act 2014 (c. 26).

M6 1970 c. 9.

M7 Section 65(3) was amended by paragraph 30 of Schedule 19 to the Finance Act 1998 (c.36).