Mark McLaughlin looks at what qualifies as ‘work’ for certain tax-related purposes.
What constitutes ‘work’? There can sometimes be differences of opinion between employers and employees on this question! However, it may also cause disputes between taxpayers and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Whether an activity constitutes work can be an important issue for tax purposes.
Work and residence
For example, the statutory residence test (SRT) is a set of rules to establish whether an individual is resident in the UK for tax purposes. Time spent working is relevant for various purposes in the SRT, such as the ‘automatic’ overseas or UK tests, and the ‘sufficient UK ties’ test (i.e., an individual will have a ‘work tie’ if they work more than three hours in the UK on at least 40 days in the tax year). ;&
