Self-employed IT contractors are being made to "jump through too many hoops" by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), an online accountancy company has claimed.

The founder of crunch.co.uk Darren Fell made his comments in reaction to the news that a tax appeal tribunal had deemed 1,700 team leaders at Weight Watchers as employees, rather than self-employed workers entitled to benefits.

"If we continue to punish freelancers and contractors in this way we will stifle one of our most independent thinking, mobile and highly-skilled sectors of the workforce to the detriment of the whole economy," said Mr Fell.

Mr Fell continued to say that setting up as self-employed could be difficult enough without feeling like you have "the might of HMRC gunning for you".

However, there is help at hand for self-employed IT contractors struggling to understand the complex tax system.

HMRC are providing a free open day in Shrewsbury on March 11th where they will dispense advice on tax returns and payment schemes.