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Contractors who are not already covered by the schedular payment rules can choose to have their income treated as schedular payments in some circumstances. These are called voluntary schedular payments.

Contractors can choose to get schedular payments when both of these situations apply:

  • tax does not already need to be deducted from the income, for example it is not already schedular income or normal PAYE income from salary or wages
  • both the contractor and the payer agree to treat the payments as voluntary schedular payments and have recorded this in writing.

The written agreement could include:

  • the name of the payee and payer
  • a statement that the payments will be treated as voluntary schedular payments
  • the time period it applies to
  • the signature of the payee and payer.

What happens next

If you're a contractor you need to:

  • choose your tax rate, or use the standard rate of 20%
  • give your payer a completed Tax rate notification for contractors - IR330C form.

Work out and declare my tax rate for schedular payments


If you're a payer you need to:

  • register as an employer and make sure you file and pay on time
  • deduct tax at the rate the contractor has chosen on their IR330C form. If they have not given you an IR330C form, then you must deduct tax at the no-notification rate of 45%.

Register as an employer

Last updated: 28 Apr 2021
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