| Rebecca Seeley Harris LLB
(Hons) LLM MSc |
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Rebecca has a Bachelors degree in Business Law with honours, a Masters
in International Commercial and Corporate Law with Distinction and
a Masters in Experimental Psychology from Sussex University.
Rebecca started her business several years ago so she would have
the freedom to provide legal services how she thought fit. Her time
is roughly split between the practical work of drafting and negotiating
contracts to lecturing and educating those concerned through the
articles that she writes.
Her specialist areas of interest revolve around the self-employed
including the Employment Status Test, IR35 and Schedule D tax matters.
This incorporates employment law, insolvency, tax, and company law.
The ethos of her business is to clarify and simplify the legal process
and to illuminate the complexities of law.
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| Specialist Subjects |
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- Employment Status
For many different reasons it is necessary to establish
whether an individual is to be regarded as employed or self-employed
working under a contract of service as an employee or
under a contract for services as an independent contractor.
The relationship between a worker and an employer or engager
may be questioned in the following circumstances: IR35, compensation
for injury at work, payment of tax and national insurance, VAT,
employment rights and insurance claims, amongst others.
- IR35
IR35 was introduced by the Inland Revenue as an anti-avoidance
measure aimed at countering the use of personal service companies
(PSC) or the so called 'one-man' limited company. The PSC was
a tax efficient way of providing services but, since April 2000
those working through PSCs have had to establish their employment
status in order to decide whether the relevant contract will
attract Schedule E tax and NICs liabilities.
The new rules only apply to work that would be regarded as employment,
but for the imposition of an intermediary, if undertaken directly
for the client. This applies whether the actual contract is
direct with the client or through an agency.
- Schedule D
In terms of taxable income you could be self-employed under
Schedule D or employed under Schedule E. There is, however,
a great void between the two Schedules which requires the use
of case law to determine the worker's classification. There
is no right to be self-employed in the UK, so the worker would
claim that they are self-employed until such time as the courts
disagree.
Examples of Schedule D content: Schedule D Cases I & II; Deductions
from Schedule D; Relief for claim for error or mistake; 'Trading'
- destination of profits, transactions, realisation and disposal
of assets; and 'Mutual Trading' and Discontinuance of Trade.
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| Articles |
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- See extensive list of articles here
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| Journals/Websites
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- AccountingWeb
- Legal pages
Rebecca has been writing for AccountingWeb for several years
now. She writes on Employment Status and IR35 and issues related
to Schedule D tax matters.
Rebecca will shortly be writing a new column on current topics
in Business law twice monthly for BusinessZone.
- ContractorUK
Rebecca contributed many articles for ContractorUK and edited
the IR35, Legal and News Zones. Her main contribution was the
coverage of the Judicial Review of IR35 in the High Court and
Court of Appeal.
The case was reported live by typing up the proceedings and
legal arguments as they were being conducted on a Psion 5MX.
The reports were then emailed to ContractorUK so that the case
could be live on the internet within minutes. This was experimental
but worked exceedingly well due to Rebecca's ability to understand
complex legal argument on European law and report it immediately.
- Simon's Direct Tax Service - Butterworths Tolley
Rebecca is a regular contributor to various sections on Schedule
D tax matters in SDTS. She is responsible for reviewing and
updating the relevant sections.
- Company Law & Insolvency, Butterworths Tolley
Company Director or Employee?
Insolvency - A Second Chance
- Company Secretary Review - Butterworths Tolley
Are you an employee of your own limited company?
- Recruitment Magazine
Subject: The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses
Regulations.
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| Books
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- Employment Status Guide published on AccountingWeb 2001
The Employment Status Guide is an online publication available
exclusively on AccountingWeb. It covers the employment status
tests and factors, an extensive case list with summaries and
full reports, contract law and links to all the relevant Inland
Revenue material with commentary from the author.
- TAXline Tax Planning 2002-2003, ICAEW
Rebecca wrote the chapter 'Employment Status Beyond IR35' for
this year's edition. This annual book published by the Tax Faculty
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants is published in September.
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| TV/Audio |
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- Einstein Network - Finance & Accounting Channels - 2002
Programme 747 - IR35, part of the CPD programme filmed at Channel
Four for the Einstein Network.
- Tax Essentials - Chartered Institute of Taxation - 2001
An audio interview on the implications of IR35 and the employment
status test.
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| Lecturing/Conferences/Seminars
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- London School of Economics - Law Department LLB/LLM Taxation
Rebecca lectures on Schedule D, Employment Status and Deductions
for both the LLB and LLM courses in Taxation.
- Tax Faculty - ICAEW
Annual conference in Oxford.
- IIR Ltd - Employment Taxes
Employment Taxes - 17 September 2002 & 21 January 2003
- Taxaid
Giving pro bono advice to clients of Taxaid
- Federation of Small Businesses - 2001
Regional seminars on IR35
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