A ‘significant’ change in approach? Reflections on the Court of Appeal’s decision in BlueCrest

The UK’s salaried member rules (SMRs) are an important tool in HMRC’s arsenal for tackling arrangements which take advantage of the flexibility of carrying on business through an LLP in order to realise some tax advantage. Specifically the SMRs were introduced to prevent businesses from ‘disguising’ what were in substance employment relationships by engaging relevant individuals as LLP members – with a view to benefitting from what is at least a ‘presumption’ that individual UK LLP members should be treated for income tax and national insurance purposes as self-employed partners rather than as employees (with associated PAYE and employer NICs benefits). The benefits of achieving self-employed status in this way will...