Edit: as a prelude, I want to point out that I'm NOT an accountant and that my interest in IR35 lapsed a little when I got out of the market, so I'm not desperately current on this. The stuff I hear now is from mates who are still out there. You should seek out qualified advise and get a GOOD accountant if you do go contracting. Make sure you get a good one and one that's recommended - my one turned shit on me after 4 years and failed to file a return, which caused me a year of sleepless nights because the bastard lied to me about it. Seriously.
DE-G@vnor wrote:Thanks for taking the time Warren
What I need to know about contracting is the bloody IR35 stuff, some guy said to us today that the job he was offering was IR35 exempt, but would I like to use a LTD or an umbrella company for payment.
Well, I didnt have a clue, but confidently stated I'd prefer umbrella - and looking into it, Parasol seem a good option. But surely it cant be this much of a bugger to work my taxes? Easy ways out would be appreciated.
IR35 is the reason I got out of contracting.
Basically, the agents will tell you that they are offering IR35 compliant contracts, but they can't really know until it goes to a tribunal. I believe you can actually take out insurance for this now - that would cover the costs of the court case should the tax man go after you.
Sadly, I'm not aware of an easy way out of the tax thing. Last I heard, the Tax man was going after the umberella companies as well, so that's not necessarily a safe option.
Don't know how much you know about IR35, and I'm no accountant, but:
Basically, it was a tax law implemented to hit contractors, and specifially Knowlege-Based contractors as many of them were taking the piss.
If you have a limited company, you have to pay corporation tax, and when you take salary from that company you pay your normal rate of personal tax. HOWEVER, as you are both the employee and employer, you have to pay both lots of National Insurance. So you're looking at a capped amount of something around 10% as an employee, and an uncapped amount of about 12.5% as the employer. So, assuming you're a high rate tax payer, you'll be paying nearly 64% of a portion of your earnings to the tax man.
The cool thing is, that as a director and sole shareholder of your company, you can take money out as dividends. Now, these still attract Income Tax, but NOT National Insurance.
The problem was that a lot of contractors started taking ALL their money out as dividends and so were paying far less tax that the average joe. (Not me I hasten to add - I always paid a reasonable salary to me and my wife - to share our tax allowance - and took some out as dividends to balance out the extra NI I paid).
So, the government came out with IR35, and also started to apply Section 660 (I think) in reference to people sharing their tax allowance. Which is nice, as it's something that you used to be able to do with your wife anyway, but let's not get into the discussion as to how the new regime encourages women to put their kids into childcare rather than stay at home and look after them.
IR35 essentially says something like this:
If you own a significant shareholding in the company for which you work, and if, based on certain wooly criteria, you are seen to be using that company purely as a tax vehicle, you CANNOT take the money out of it as dividends.
They allow 5% of the money to be used for running the company, and I think you can claim mileage and some very limited expenses, but everything else is paid to you as salary, attracting the normal tax, plus employees and employers NI.
If you're caught by IR35, it becomes pretty costly to be a contractor, and you don't get paid holidays, sick leave, benefits or security. So suddenly the whole thing looks less attractive.
The problem really lies with the wooly criteria. The have things like, if you have to supply your own tools, then that indicates you may not be caught (handy in a job where you're selling your skills, and one where you often are expressly forbidden from using your own laptop on-site!). There's loads of other indicators they use, but really you don't know for sure until it ends up in tribunal.
One way that I believe is pretty bullet proof is to have more than one contract running at any one time, or to have the company do other things and not just the one contract. So - you could have the company selling cards as well as contracting. But I think the tax man would require the company to be showing a profit from all parts of it's business, so you couldn't set up a sham arrangement as that can get nasty.
And the tax man has 7 years to decide if he wants to pursue you.
Which is nice.
DE-G@vnor wrote:Also, on the IT Sec front, it seems I cant get a job in that since the bloody paranoid Bush style propoganda machine has created a whole new world of shit in my field. Namely the ATO clearance (Anti Terrorist Organisation) and the SC clearance they have pulled out of their arse this year. Additionally though, contract IT Sec work is hard to find, since everyones scared of us doing them over!
Aye, so its contract Im looking for, and Im too miserable/lazy/northern to handle working in London again
I had SC clearance, but the only realistic way I'm aware of getting it is to be sponsored by a company. I actually got it while on a contract, so it can be done. Trouble is that it lapses, and can lapse very quickly depending on what you have.
Did you click on the link I posted - I think there's some stuff up north in that lot - there was certainly one in Liverpool when I looked. Paying a fair whack too.
