the advisor Word of the week:CONTINUALITY

Ever since those nice app people lost their Supreme Court case, I have been kinda busy on my status consultancy work, so I thought for my article it would be nice to take a break and focus on the other impending horror on my mind.

This is something I have spoken about before, but now, either by hard luck or misfortune, there is a whole new twist. Firstly, after a damn hard slog through the Covid-19 pandemic, our reward as an industry that is trying to re-attract so many drivers lost to us (by necessity) to parcel and food deliveries and just plain old unemployment, the government brings us Continuality.

Basically, we know that every self-employed person must do a tax return and that some people, believe it or not, including drivers in our industry, are still not known to the taxman.

Which is why Continuality (sometimes also referred to as Continuity) legislation is on its way. To be fair, it’s not so much the principle as the timing. Continuality will introduce a check on tax registration (tax check) for renewed applications for licences to: u drive taxis and private hire vehicle u operate a PHV business

An applicant who wishes to renew a licence will need to carry out a tax check. The licensing body (typically a local authority) will have to obtain confirmation from HMRC that the applicant has completed the check before being able to consider their renewed licence application.

The government is doing this as a response to the hidden economy, which they believe exists as a result of a confusion and a lack of understanding about tax obligations. Making access to licenses conditional on a tax check certainly makes it more difficult for people to enter or remain as part of the hidden economy.

Supposedly It also creates a more transparent industry.And as usual, it’s not about the government’s unwillingness to put resources into the HMRC. It’s about our unwillingness to ‘dob in’ our fellow man.

According to HMRC, licensing bodies will signpost first-time applicants to HMRC guidance about tax obligations. This is to “obtain confirmation that they are aware of what is expected of them before considering the application”.

The tax check will be carried out by providing enough information for HMRC to be happy that the applicant is aware of their tax obligations and willing to do the right thing. If the licensing body is unable to obtain confirmation of tax check completion for 28 days, licenses will either be denied or will be allowed to expire.

Bang, there it is. Another measure that could severely affect your company, that is not of your making. Well as the saying goes, do what you can do, but don’t sweat the stuff you can’t (genuinely the worst paraphrase of Desiderata ever. Look it up).

So here is what you need to do ready for

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