'Scrap CIS 4 cards' demands union chief

by John d'Arcy



The revised construction industry tax scheme still leaves room for widespread bogus self-employment and there is no sign of any political will from the Government to tackle the problem, according to George Brumwell, general secretary of UCATT.

Speaking at the union's biennial delegate conference in Killarney this week, Brumwell said: "The Government does not have a clue who is employed and who is self-employed and how much money tax payers are losing as a result.

"In fact, they are so worried about the situation that they cut the deduction for subcontractors from 23% to 18%. This is a disgrace. And it has got to stop."

Brumwell said the CIS 4 card had sparked a drift back to bogus self-employment and the denial of employment rights. His union could not accept a tax system that treated construction workers differently from everyone else. "If that means scrapping the CIS 4 card, then so be it."

The general secretary said, since the introduction of the new CIS tax system, the Inland Revenue had issued nearly 800,000 CIS 4 cards.

He continued: "The Government introduced changes to the tax system to tighten up and cut out fraud. Tax certificates would only be given to genuine businesses.

"The union gave its support to these moves and resisted attempts by employers to weaken the qualifying criteria for a genuine business.

"The problems have been caused by the introduction of the CIS 4 registration card. The CIS 4 card is available to anyone from their local tax office. There are no qualifying criteria. So, while the Government closed down one loophole in the tax system, it opened up a giant hole for bogus self-employment."

Brumwell said the union had asked UCATT-sponsored MPs to quiz ministers on the number of construction workers employed on a PAYE basis and the amount lost to the Exchequer as a result of bogus self-employment. The answer to both questions was that the information was not available.

The general secretary continued: "We will be putting resources into building a campaign against the CIS 4 card.

"We are in the process of commissioning academic research on the impact of the Construction Industry Scheme on direct labour employment. If the Government cannot find out how much money is being lost to the Exchequer, we will.

"We are taking this matter directly to the Inland Revenue. We will invite someone from the Revenue to the next meeting of regional secretaries. We want some answers."