BEEB £1M TAX BOOB
Licence cash to pay staff’s bills
THE BBC is set to splash out up to £1million of licence fee cash to settle accountancy bills for hundreds of workers.
TV and radio show employees on less than £45,000 have been caught up in a tax crackdown on all staff – including star presenters – formerly paid via “personal services companies” through a self-employment loophole.
A new HMRC law means all public bodies, including the BBC, must get workers’ job status correct, placing any liabilities for tax and NI contributions with them.
The IR35 legislation has meant lower paid staff – including some regional presenters – have had to cough up extra fees to their bean counters – accountants – to comply.
Now the Beeb is understood to be set to pay up to 1,000 employees’ fees at around £1,000 each “to keep the peace”.
A source told us: “Staff were incensed the new legislation was going to cost them even more money in extra accountancy fees on top of the extra tax they’re now being forced to pay.
“To keep the peace, bosses have accepted it’s a mess and agreed to cover the costs. But it’s the public left footing the bill.”
In an email to staff this month, seen by the Sunday Mirror, BBC Director of Radio and Music Bob Shennan wrote: “Thank you for the claims we’ve received for the ex-gratia contribution for additional book-keeping fees.
“We are now processing these, with the aim of paying as many as possible via the August payroll.
“As previously outlined, this is available for anyone earning less than £45k from the BBC during 2017/18 and who has incurred additional fees arising from the implementation of IR35 legislation.” The Sunday Mirror first broke the IR35 tax storm story in September last year. We told how the BBC faced losing some of its top stars o v e r the issue as they faced having to pay back big sums in tax under the new rules. Telly favourites including Fiona Bruce and Jeremy Paxman have both said in the past they were “required” by the BBC to be paid through service companies. A BBC spokesman said: “Changes to tax legislation have resulted in significant additional costs for some in producing the legally required financial year end reporting. So we’re offering ex-gratia one-off assistance to those earning less than £45,000.”