In Christa Ackroyd Media v HMRC UKUT0326 the Upper Tribunal dismissed a TV presenters appeal against IR35 applying to her personal service company; the BBC did exercise sufficient control over her work for an employment relationship to exist.

The IR35 rules provide for employment taxes on a Personal service company (PSC):

Christa Ackroyd, presenter of BBC1’s “Look North” until 2013, was engaged by the BBC via her PSC, Christa Ackroyd Media Limited (CAM).

CAM appealed to the Upper tribunal on the sole ground that the FTT had erred in law in deciding that the BBC had sufficient control for an employment relationship to exist had the services been directly supplied.

The UT dismissed the appeal finding that:

Comment:

Since the Christa Ackroyd FTT case was heard, the Tribunal has heard three other IR35 cases involving TV presenters. Lorraine Kelly and Kay Adams both won their appeals, whilst Joanna Gosling, Tim Willcox and David Eades, who also worked for the BBC, lost their joint appeal. Of course those cases do not have any legal precedent whereas this decision, being from the Upper Tribunal, does.

Links to our guides:

Personal Service companies and tax
IR35: Off-payroll working 

External link:
Christa Ackroyd Media v HMRC UKUT0326