Grand UK and others v HMRC

In Grand UK and others v HMRC [2018] UKUT 96 (28 March 2018) the UT found that employees who received payments from one entity under contracts for employment with another were actually employees of several companies.

The appellant companies each carried a business activity (e.g. catering and rental collection) at the premises of the Grand a former hotel in Folkestone. Approximately 100 people worked at the Grand as employees under contracts that did not identify any appellant as their employer. Each of these employees were paid weekly by Heritage Hotels a company set up to manage credit card payments for one of the businesses conducted at the Grand. The employees’ contracts of employment purported to be with ‘The Grand’ but no such entity existed. HMRC considered that the appellants were all liable for income tax under PAYE and NICs and it had allocated...