Usually in this case the developer is an employee of another company (this company can tell them what to do) and the first business is paying the second for this developers time.
Being employed via 1 or more companies is not protection. The UK government is persuing people who were hired as contractors via a staffing agency which then encouraged them to set up a personal Ltd company.
Typically these contractors pay themselves a mixture of dividends and normal paye pay to minimise tax, and the gov is saying the dividends were never really dividends so they need to pay tax and ni on them including the employers ni.
Currently this is limited to specific staffing agencies who actively instructed new contractors to create a personal company but I don't think it will stop there.
I've long felt most contractors are well within ir35 and it has been tollerated. This may be ending.
Typically these contractors pay themselves a mixture of dividends and normal paye pay to minimise tax, and the gov is saying the dividends were never really dividends so they need to pay tax and ni on them including the employers ni.
Currently this is limited to specific staffing agencies who actively instructed new contractors to create a personal company but I don't think it will stop there.
I've long felt most contractors are well within ir35 and it has been tollerated. This may be ending.