ITV Services Ltd v HMRC

In ITV Services Ltd v HMRC (CA – 23 July) a television company had until November 2006 treated several actors as employed earners and had accounted for class 1 NIC on the amounts it paid them. From December 2006 it ceased to account for class 1 NIC treating the actors as self-employed. HMRC issued determinations charging NIC on the payments. The First-tier Tribunal issued a decision in principle that the company was required to account for NIC in respect of most of the types of contracts except where the actors were ‘engaged to perform a specific role in a specific programme engaged for a specific period of engagement and received a single total inclusive fee’. The Upper Tribunal and the CA unanimously dismissed the company’s appeal against this decision. Rimer LJ analysed several different agreements and held that they all provided...