The Professional Contractors Group (PCG), which was formed in May 1999 to represent contractors and lobby against the controversial IR35 tax legislation, is to take its case for judicial review of the legislation to the English Court of Appeal.

This follows a High Court ruling earlier this year which found that the IR35 law was not in breach of any European free trade laws or the Human Rights Act as was argued by the PCG.

IR35 treats small businesses in the knowledge-based sector as “disguised employees” for tax and National Insurance purposes, thereby preventing them, argues the PCG, from operating on similar terms to their larger competitors.

The PCG maintains its argument that IR35 should be held as illegal under European Law, and hopes that a new hearing will find in its favour, despite no new evidence or arguments being submitted for the appeal.

A spokeswoman for the PCG told Silicon.com: “At the last review, the findings of fact were in our favour, but the finding in law was that IR35 should not be struck down…There are no precedents of tax rules being challenged on a point of European Law, so our lawyers thought it was worth another go”.

The spokeswoman added that the PCG would take the matter to the European courts if the latest Appeals Court motion is unsuccessful.

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