Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to confuse the issue of the tax and PRSI position of people who are genuinely self-employed. This matter relates to people who are not genuinely self-employed and are using the device for tax reduction purposes. The use of intermediary-type structures is becoming more prevalent as a means of providing labour, and legitimately so. From a tax and PRSI perspective, one of the consequences of these types of arrangements is that, rather than the end user applying the PAYE system in respect of the worker, that function becomes the responsibility of the worker. In addition to these formal intermediary-type structures, there are increasing instances of workers being classified as self-employed even though they might not possess the characteristics of entrepreneurship and risk-taking that are often perceived as features of self-employment.

The work is almost complete and will be submitted shortly to the working group. I will publish the report as soon as I have a clean copy and have put it through the Government.

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