IR35 Responsibility Checker – who decides status and who pays the tax?
Use this checker to find out who is responsible for making the IR35 decision and, where the off-payroll rules apply, which organisation has to deal with the tax on the payment. In practice, that means identifying the deemed employer — the organisation that must deduct PAYE income tax and employee National Insurance and account for employer National Insurance to HMRC if the engagement is inside the off-payroll rules.
That responsibility can rest with the contractor’s own company, the end client or another organisation in the supply chain. If you need some background information first, try our IR35 basics guide and our guide to the off-payroll working rules.
What this checker tells you
Who is responsible for IR35 depends on the client and the way the contract is set up. Sometimes the contractor’s own company has to consider the rules. In other cases, the client has to make the status decision.
Where the client is responsible, it will usually have to issue a Status Determination Statement (SDS). If there is an agency or another business between the client and the contractor’s company, the PAYE responsibility can sit further down the supply chain.
The checker works through those questions in order. If the answer depends on facts that are not clear, it will say so rather than name the wrong organisation.
The logic is built around HMRC’s Employment Status Manual and current GOV.UK guidance on client responsibilities, Status Determination Statements, reasonable care, fee-payers, supply chains and overseas clients. The decision engine has also been tested across its full question paths, including direct engagements, agency chains, small clients, overseas clients and cases where the SDS does not reach the expected fee-payer.
The contractor’s company or the client.
We check whether the off-payroll rules put that duty on the client.
The client, fee-payer or another qualifying organisation in the chain.
Important: This checker is about who is responsible for the IR35 decision and any PAYE obligations. To assess the engagement itself, use our IR35 Status Checker. This tool does not provide legal or tax advice.