Self-employed roles in production – updated ‘agreed list’
Last Updated on 1 August 2023
It can often be confusing trying to work out which jobs are likely to be paid as self-employed, and which as PAYE.
Generally speaking it’s roles where people have their own tools, or where HMRC thinks you have to show “rare skill and judgement”, a jargon phrase that always brings a wry smile.
A good starting point for clarification is the list of job roles agreed between HMRC and the production industry, including unions like BECTU.
This is sometimes called the ‘agreed list’ or ‘appendix 1’.
There was an update at the end of 2019, and now another in June 2023. The latest roles to be included are 1st Asst Editors and 1st Asst Directors.
If you want to check out the full list it’s available via gov.uk:
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-status-manual/esm4118
It’s been organised into handy sections such as ‘post-production’, ‘special FX’, ‘audio’, ‘production management’, etc..
My favourite bit is the interesting mixture of jobs in the ‘other roles’ section at the end.
Remember that this list is of roles that HMRC are comfortable being paid as self-employed. It doesn’t mean they are always paid that way. Some employers might have reasons to pay them PAYE via their payroll.
I have a handy jargon-free explanation of the different types of ‘freelance’ here:
https://davidthomasmedia.com/finance-training-2/what-is-a-freelancer/
NB: David Thomas Media Ltd is not responsible for the content of other sites nor any financial advice provided by them.
Posted on 01 August 2023
