Uber Possibly looking at a £150 Million Plus Tax bill as their drivers aren’t classed as Self-Employed

The latest tribunal ruling could land Uber with a tax bill running into the hundreds of millions of Pounds. Earlier in the month in a landmark judgement tribunal judges ruled that 2 drivers who Uber were claiming were self-employed should actually be classed as employed and therefore entitled to holiday pay and sick pay.

The ruling is a huge blow to Uber’s business model but will also have serious implications to a host of other service industries. If Ubers drivers were to be classed as employees rather than self-employed contractors the tax bill will be huge. Uber is currently in the process of appealing the ruling but it has opened up the doors for 40,000 drivers in London to challenge their employment status.

It has been estimated that their National Insurance Contributions alone could top £13 million a month, this would have a serious effect on their bottom line. The reclassification of their employees could also that they could be forced to pay VAT on all money raised from fares. Uber is unlikely to go down without a fight and has already written to all their drivers telling them the ruling is unique and will not result in a change of its terms of business. GMB Union that bought about the tribunal has heavily criticised Uber’s stance.