Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 section 44

Treatment of workers supplied by agencies

Section 44 sets out when a worker supplied through an agency is treated as holding an employment for income tax purposes, and how that deemed employment is attributed — normally to the agency, but to the client or another party where fraud is involved.

• Where a worker personally provides services to a client under an arrangement involving an agency, and the worker is subject to (or to the right of) supervision, direction or control, the worker is treated as holding an employment with the agency for income tax purposes
• All remuneration the worker receives from any source for those services is treated as earnings from that deemed employment
• The section does not apply if the worker is genuinely free from any supervision, direction or control, or if the remuneration already counts as employment income under other rules
• If the client or another relevant person provides the agency with a fraudulent document claiming the section does not apply, the deemed employment shifts from the agency to the client or that relevant person instead