Mike Gibson and Andrew Merritt-Morling have now established a crowdfunding page for the first stage in their legal challenge to IR35 and are seeking your support.
The first stage of fundraising is to secure £10,500 to engage a barrister who will undertake research and analysis to determine the best grounds for challenging IR35.
At the time of writing they have already raised almost 10% of the funds, and your help will enable the target to be reached.
Why should you care?
The reforms to IR35 in the public sector have been damaging to businesses affected and contractors have suffered greatly due to the chaos that has wreaked havoc amongst the public sector contracting community.
Mike Gibson reflects on some of the stories people have shared in confidence: “Relationships are breaking down, people are struggling emotionally, people are losing their livelihoods - even the very roof over their heads - because of this awful, discriminatory piece of vindictive legislation.“
“The unfairness should be challenged, “ says Gibson.
Will these IR35 changes hit private sector contractors?
All experts agree that the two-tiered system between public and private sector is untenable in the long term, and that the reforms will be rolled out to the private sector in due course.
The roll out to the public sector was chaotic, with blanket decisions being made to push all contractors inside IR35.
So, if you are a contractor working in the private sector, it is in your interests for these draconian reforms to be repealed, along with the entire IR35 legislation once and for all.
What are the chances of success, and next steps?
This will be established as part of the research and analysis work.
Once the report is completed the arguments will be presented and further funding will be sought to continue the campaign.
Why should you support the IR35 campaign?
Please support the campaign if:
- you think that it is unfair that some people are being taxed as employees but receiving no employment benefits or protection
- you think it's wrong that the public sector must pay more than the private sector for an identical service
- you think it's wrong that at a time when the economy desperately needs flexibility, HMRC is building ever more inflexibility into our economy.
- you think it is wrong that HMRC stonewall the sector by claiming numerical targets are reached, despite then claiming not to measure such statistics
- you feel that government and its agencies should listen to the voices of the people that they represent.
Whatever your reason for opposition to IR35, please support it.
It is time to right a wrong.
Please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mike-gibson