§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to amend the appropriate regulation and/or legislation in order to restore arrangements which allowed actors and artists with a similar work pattern to be taxed under schedule D.
§ Mr. LilleyWhen the House debated this subject on 27 February, as reported in theOfficial Report, at columns 250–56, I promised to consider carefully the suggestion that a statutory provision should be introduced to ensure that performers should be treated as self-employed and not subject to PAYE, irrespective of their position under the usual tests of employment/self-employment laid down by the courts. Having done so, I concluded that it would not be appropriate to make this change. That would be unfair to other taxpayers whose tax treatment is governed by the general rules on employment/self-employment, and would raise the other difficulties I explained in the debate.
I conveyed my conclusions on this issue to the industry shortly after the Budget. It is of course open to it, or any individual actor, to challenge the Inland Revenue's view of the law in the courts. The Revenue will do everything it can to help in selecting suitable cases for appeal if the industry decides it wishes to do so.