Employment status is not always easy to determine and of course is not always easy to implement even when it has been decided.

Common indicators of employment:
* Thecontractor has the right to control what the worker has to do - where, when and how it is done - even if the contractor rarely uses that control.
* The worker supplies only his or her own small tools.
* The worker does not risk his or her own money and there is no possibility that he or she will suffer financial loss.
* The worker has no business organisation, for example yard, stock, materials, por workers. These examples are not exhaustive.
* The worked is paid by the hour, day, week or month.

Common indicatiors of self-employment:
* Within an overall deadline, the worker has the right to decide how and when the work is done.
* The worker supplies materials, plant or heavy equipment needed for the job.
* The worker bids for a job and will bear any additional cost if the job ends up costing more than the workers original estimate.
* The worker has the right to hire other people who answer to him or her and are paid by him or her to do the job.
* The worker is paid an agreed amount for the job regardless of how long it takes.

Status disputes can be very costly to resolve, particularly where the dispute covers a number of years.

The employer will account for the full amount of income tax due under PAYE and NIC. The employee will then need to reclaim tax previously paid under the SA. The employee could then ask for a refund of the tax he or she had paid on the basis that PAYE was properly due and not the tax paid under SA.

HMRC officers may accept that an employer can only avoid paying the PAYE this way if they obtain an irrevocable written undertaking from each of the employees concerned, stating that the employee will not seek a refund and agree to the SA tax paid being offset against the PAYE liabilities. Clearly then one of our many nightmares to be lived with