A new survey of businesses in Yorkshire indicates that the majority of them are confident that they will be able to comply with the new IR35 tax rules, as HRMC ends its light touch attitude next spring.

This survey was carried out by Grant Thornton, a corporate advisory service, for its Business Outlook Tracker. The results show that just under 75% of business leaders in Yorkshire feel satisfied that their firms can comply with IR35, while more than one fifth said that they felt extremely confident about this. That is a markedly different outlook from that of business leaders in the rest of the UK.

Not all of the survey results were quite so encouraging though. Grant Thornton also found that medium-sized firms throughout the country are finding it extremely difficult to comply with IR35. In total, 19% of the 605 such firms surveyed stated that they did not feel sure that they could comply.

Given the need to do so before HMRC starts to take a heavier approach to the rules in April next year, these companies may find themselves looking to accountants in Goole or wherever they are to make sure they don’t fall foul of the law.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Rachel Engwell from Grant Thornton said:

“It’s good to see that Yorkshire businesses are generally confident about their compliance and have heeded earlier warnings.”

Engwell then went on to add that those businesses that were less sure could not afford to put sorting out their IR35 compliance on hold for any longer.