Contractor Asked for NI Details!

[Guvernator]

I am an IT contractor and my agency has just asked me to provide my NI number after already having worked for them for nearly a year.

When I asked why they needed this information they said they had to send a report to HMRC of contractors they've placed since September who don't work under a PAYE scheme.

My client is a private sector client by the way but it sounds to me like HMRC are getting geared up for checking IR35 compliance already.

I'm quite tempted to tell the agency to foxtrot off to be honest.

What are people's thoughts?

[Crasher242]

I'm in a similar boat - i had this request from an agency i was working through a couple of years back - same reasons given (agencies required to submit reports back).
I provided them with the info and nothing untoward happened from it - i guess its down to how paranoid you are - i mean they (HMRC) would get that information from you via self-assessment returns anyway.

From my perspective, i knew my contract was reasonably water-tight from an IR35 perspective, and i had insurance cover in the event the HMRC decided to come looking

[Guvernator]

Yeah I just think the timing of this is a bit ominous, especially as they were quite up-front about why they wanted it.

They sent me a snippet of an email which directly says it's going to be used for HMRC to gather details of contractors on none PAYE i.e. outside IR35 contracts.

Given everything else that's happened around this space lately, I can't help but get a little paranoid about it.

[schmunk]

If the agency is paying you, they should have been reporting since the beginning - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employm... - this is not new, it's been in place since 2015/16.

If the agency isn't paying you, .

[Guvernator]

Hmm interesting, news to me so it's actually been a thing for at least 2-3 years so perhaps the agency being a bit remiss with it's reporting and it's finally caught up with them.