HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) continues to strive to reduce
the number of workers not subject to PAYE. It has added new
reporting requirements for businesses that it considers to be
'employment intermediaries'. Care is now required since the
definition catches many recruitment agencies that may not regard
themselves as traditional intermediaries.
From 6 April 2015, employment intermediaries are subject to a
significant new reporting regime. This applies to any
business that supplies workers who personally provide services
to a client.
Under the new regime, UK intermediaries must return reports to HMRC
containing details of all workers they place with clients if PAYE
is not operated on the workers' payments. Such reports must be
filed on a quarterly basis, with the first report due on 5 August
2015. There are automatic penalties for not sending a report or for
sending a report after the deadline (ranging between £250 and
£1,000, depending on the number of failures in a
