KAYE Adams has claimed victory in a dispute over the payment of £125,000 in taxes.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) had ordered the BBC Radio Scotland presenter to pay more than £81,000 in tax and £44,000 in National Insurance from work she did at the BBC between 2015 and 2017.
The tax collectors claimed she was an employee of the corporation, but Adams, who also stars on Loose Women and writes for newspaper and magazines, insisted she was a freelance worker.
An initial ruling in 2019 sided with the broadcaster, but HMRC subsequently appealed.
An Upper Tribunal hearing last week upheld the original ruling, with judges accepting that Adams worked for the BBC through her company Atholl House Productions Ltd.
The presenter also produced evidence that she was paid for her role on ITV’s Loose Women on a “show for show” basis.
Adams told the Times: “I am delighted that the Upper Tribunal has reaffirmed the finding of the first-tier tribunal [that] confirmed my status as a freelance worker. I hope we can now consider this matter closed.”
Justice Marcus Smith and Judge Jonathan Richards concluded that Adams’s range of work meant she could be classed as freelance.
Their written ruling said: “When entering into the hypothetical contracts . . . Miss Adams would have been entering into business on her own account.”
HMRC had attempted to use the IR35 directive which aims to clamp down on “disguised” employment. A spokesman commented: “HMRC is disappointed that the Upper Tribunal has decided that the intermediary rules, also known as IR35, do not apply in this case.
“HMRC will carefully consider the outcome of the tribunal before deciding whether or not to appeal.”
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