The services of a Sky TV presenter under a hypothetical contract directly with the television company would have been regarded as from an employment, and fees paid to the presenter’s personal service company were within the intermediaries (‘IR35’)provisions.

A well-known sports presenter and commentator (DC) had initially undertaken work with Sky TV Ltd (‘Sky’) on a self-employed basis and rendered invoices. However, at the request of Sky, the appellant company (LPPL) was incorporated on 9 June 2003 to be a personal service company for DC to provide his broadcasting services.