Northern Light Solutions Ltd v HMRC

In the IR35 case of Northern Light Solutions Ltd v HMRC [2021] UKUT 134 (TCC) (8 June 2021) the Upper Tribunal (UT) upheld the First-tier Tribunal’s (FTT’s) decision that a worker’s hypothetical contracts were ones of employment. There was mutuality of obligation within each contract and the dominant feature of the hypothetical contracts was an obligation for personal performance.

Northern Light is the personal service company of L who was engaged as a project manager for a major building society (NBS) under a series of arrangements involving Northern Light over a number of years. The issue was whether if the services were provided under hypothetical contracts directly between L and NBS L would be regarded for income tax and national insurance purposes as an employee of NBS. The First-tier Tribunal had answered this in the affirmative and Northern...