Control the payment.
Control the liability.
Control the risk.
By controlling the payment of PAYE and NICs, organisations control the liability that arises when tax is unpaid. And by controlling that liability, they control the risk that JSL was designed to expose.
Controlling the Payment to Control the Liability
If liability arises because tax is unpaid, the most effective way to manage that liability is to control the payment itself. When PAYE and NICs are calculated transparently, segregated clearly, and paid directly to HMRC under controlled conditions, reliance on downstream behaviour is removed.
This approach fundamentally changes the risk profile. Instead of detecting non-compliance after it occurs, control-based models prevent tax loss in the first place. Evidence of payment is created by design, not reconstructed after the fact.
Commercial Implications of Control
Beyond compliance, controlling payment delivers significant commercial benefits. It reduces balance sheet uncertainty, limits multi-year exposure, and strengthens an organisation's position in HMRC enquiries. It also provides clarity for boards, investors, and clients who increasingly expect demonstrable control over material risks.
Perhaps most importantly, it avoids the false comfort of assurance-led frameworks that appear robust but do not extinguish liability.
Control as the Only Sustainable Response to JSL
Joint and Several Liability has transformed payroll tax from an operational consideration into a strategic risk. In this environment, verification is no longer enough. Review does not prevent enforcement. Assurance does not remove liability.
Fortis – Giving you complete control, you only have to trust yourself
Fortis has been designed to deal with both complex supply chains and multiple assignments across multiple agencies. Accurately calculating JSL liabilities at each step. The RTI returns submitted align to the reports and the workers pay meaning that all parties, HMRC, Agency, MSP and Workers all have the same details.
Making the payment directly to HMRC for the JSL liability completes the loop. We even supply you a bank transfer file with the amounts and correct PAYE reference for each umbrella.
Beyond payslip checks
Fortis is the first solution specifically designed and built inline with the JSL legislation, no adaptations, tweaks or workarounds. Addressing the management and neutralising of risks before they arise, not informing you of issues after the event.
Supply chain transparency
Ensuring your workers only operate through your PSL umbrella companies and have their earnings reported through these is a critical compliance stage especially for MSPs. With Fortis you do not need to run manual audits and checks on this, the system handles this automatically for you.
You create your accepted providers and workers can only be processed and reported through these companies. In complex supply chains this brings a level of certainty and control not previously available.
Additional MSP Functionality
MSPs spend significant time managing their supply chain to ensure contractual obligations are met. Fortis brings additional reporting tools to the MSP that ensures only PSL providers can engage workers, with detailed breakdowns on all your second tier agencies and providers.
This bespoke compliance interface allows your compliance teams to review all the critical data in real time across the platform and produce a range of reports to demonstrate your risk mitigation as well as ongoing compliance throughout your supply chain.
Ready to Take Control?
See how Fortis can give your agency or MSP complete control over JSL liability.
Book a Demo