IR35 Status Checker
Answer 5 questions based on HMRC’s three statutory pillars — substitution, control, and integration — and get an instant indicative IR35 risk score. No signup, no legal jargon.
Can you send a substitute to do the work without the client personally approving them?
A genuine right of substitution — where the client can only reject a substitute on competence grounds — is one of the strongest outside-IR35 indicators.
The three HMRC pillars
IR35 status is not decided by any single factor — HMRC looks at the totality of the arrangement against three primary tests derived from decades of employment status case law.
Personal service
Ready Mixed Concrete [1968]
Is the worker required to perform the services personally? A genuine, unfettered right of substitution — where the client can only reject a substitute on competence grounds — is the strongest outside-IR35 indicator available.
Control
HMRC ESM0535
Who controls what work is done, how it is done, when it is done, and where it is done? Genuine contractors agree on deliverables, not working methods. Client control over process is an employment indicator.
Mutuality of obligation
Carmichael v National Power [1999]
Is the client obliged to offer work and is the worker obliged to accept it? Long-term exclusivity and the absence of genuine business risk point toward employment. Multiple concurrent clients point outside.
IR35 questions answered
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