In Slush Puppie Ltd v HMRC (TC02042 – 19 June) a company (SP) which manufactured and distributed soft drinks took over the business of another company (C). C’s employees continued to work for SP and were treated as employees with the exception of a senior service engineer (RS) whom SP treated as self-employed. RS subsequently claimed that he should also have been treated as an employee and following an enquiry HMRC issued a notice ruling that RS had been an employed earner and that SP was required to account for Class 1 national insurance contributions. The First-tier Tribunal allowed SP’s appeal holding that RS ‘was not an employed earner and was self-employed’.
Why it matters: The First-tier Tribunal rejected HMRC’s contention that the engineer had been an ‘employed earner’ and accepted the company’s...