HMRC says: You need to protect your recruitment business by testing the credibility, legitimacy, legal and tax compliance of all your suppliers, supplies, customers, employees and labour supply. Failure to perform reasonable due diligence checks can lead to significant legal, financial and reputational risks to your business, or even prevent your business from operating entirely.

• Exceed Contracting is happy to answer your due diligence questionnaires. We can also provide assurance through our accreditations and insurance backed compliance guarantees from both PayePass and Professional Passport and our customer reviews on Google.

HMRC says: Before referring your workers to an Umbrella company, you should confirm how the workers will be engaged, who is responsible for paying them and how they will get paid.

• Contractors employed and paid by Exceed Contracting Limited receive their pay, including holiday pay and appropriate expenses, directly into their bank account upon receipt of funds from the recruitment agency, and confirmation of the worker’s approved timesheet. This can be weekly and/or monthly. 

HMRC says: You also must supply your worker with a key information document before agreeing contractual terms.

• Exceed Contracting shares Key Information Documents (KID) with workers and agencies at the start of each assignment.

HRMC suggests you can require that:

1. They provide you with payslips for a specific named worker (chosen by you) upon request.
2. They show evidence of PAYE returns filed and payments made to HMRC.
3. They indemnify you against tax liabilities if they do not operate PAYE on the full amount received by the worker.
4. Your authorisation is needed before further sub-contracting to a third party.

• Exceed Contracting Limited will undertake all the above if required.

HMRC says you can do this by:

1. Requesting samples of payslips from both the umbrella company and the worker
2. Comparing them both to make sure they match.
3. Checking that PAYE has been operated on the full amount received by the worker.

• Exceed Contracting is happy to share samples of our payslips, which also include a fully transparent Company Income reconciliation statement. Assurance of all our deductions can also be provided through our accreditations and insurance-backed compliance guarantees from both PayePass and Professional Passport.

HRMC lists the following warning signs to look out for which may indicate that an umbrella company is involved in tax avoidance: financial incentives significantly higher than industry standards; different versions of the payslip for workers and the agency, payments to workers that are higher than the amount on their payslips; payments to the workers via third parties; companies who are based outside the UK; increased take-home pay for workers via untaxed payments such as: loans, grants, salary advances, capital payments, credit facilities, annuities, profit shares, shares and bonuses and amounts held in a fiduciary capacity. You must also be vigilant of mini umbrella company fraud.

• None of the above apply when working with Exceed Contracting Limited.

If they appear on this list, you should stop all activity with the umbrella company and warn your workers employed by them. If a tax avoidance scheme is not shown on the list, this does not mean that the scheme works or is in any way approved by HMRC.

•  As a fully compliant Umbrella company, Exceed Contracting Limited and other companies in the Exceed Outsourcing group, have never appeared on this list and never will.

HMRC says: Make sure details such as the company’s financial position, location and trading history are consistent with what you have been told.

• You can view the companies house information for Exceed Contracting Limited online here: Exceed Contracting Limited | Company Number 08684204

HRMC has a multitude of useful information online to educate both your temps and recruitment consultants about Umbrella companies.

Links to key guidance notes can be found in our articles here:

• For Contractors: HMRC Umbrella Guidance

• For Recruiters: HMRC Guidance – Umbrella Compliance