Draft National Insurance Contributions Bill is a talking point for LLPs
Limited liability partnership law firms would need to consider each individual member separately for national insurance purposes, under the draft National Insurance Contributions Bill, published last week.
Inez Anderson, partner at accountants Smith & Williamson, said: “At the Budget it was announced that the government planned to consult on removing the ‘presumption’ of self-employed status which is applied to members of an LLP.
“That consultation process is ongoing but this Bill as drafted removes the automatic exemption from employment status for national insurance purposes. If enacted as drafted that will mean that from 6 April 2014 it will be necessary to consider each individual member of an LLP separately to determine if they are employed or self-employed for national insurance purposes.
“If employed this will result in employer contributions being due by the LLP. This will leave LLPs with some key decisions.”
The draft Bill also includes a general anti-abuse rule and provisions to make offshore employment intermediaries liable to NICs.
