Limited company hysteria 'must stop'

The hysteria regarding the creation of limited companies must stop, the PCG has asserted.

The organisation, which represents the UK's freelance community, has praised the government for investigating the problems with high profile civil servants misdirecting pay through limited companies in a bid to avoid high income tax.

However, in doing so, it warned: “It is fundamentally inaccurate to brand all one-person limited companies as employees attempting to avoid tax.”

Chris Bryce, chairman of PCG, added: “The Prime Minister himself has praised freelance workers and said they make a valuable contribution to the nation’s economy.

“We must ensure we do not create an orchestrated witch-hunt against the nation’s smallest businesses that will damage public and private sector growth in the UK.”

He added that in “rushing to attack limited companies” the government needs to be careful not to crush freelancers and small businesses, which are some of the only areas of growth the economy has at the moment.

Indeed, while unemployment is reaching its highest point for around 16 years, freelancing has experienced growth of around 13 per cent in the last three years alone.