Son starting out in IT contracting..advice required please.

[Wacky Racer]

Ok,

One of my lads (aged 26) has been working for a large firm (IT) in the North of England as a permie for a couple of years, he is not really stretched in his job and has always fancied working around London.

He has now secured a contracting job (3 months) with a smallish firm (£150per day) they are going to train him up, hopefully another another 3 months will follow, then possibly leading to some permanent work with the same outfit.

It is obviously a very big move for him, so he is going to move into his best friend's pad down there until he finds his own place after a few months.

So,

What are the pitfalls, the do's and dont's?

He knows he will have to fund his own holidays, pay his own tax etc, so what are the first things he should be doing whilst down there.

He does have quite a bit of money behind him as a "buffer" fortunately, so he will not be going down with ten bob in his pocket.

He does not drive, (learning, but holds a m/bike licence...no bike) but knows London very well, the firm is based in central London , and seem to be very helpful.


Thanks in anticipation.

WR.

Edited by Wacky Racer on Wednesday 5th October 13:39

[Wacky Racer]

dan5oclocksmith said:

First thing he needs to do is sort out an accountant - and for that, you need Eric Mc.

Yes, I know Eric's reputation is first class, but he could use mine who I have been with over thirty years.

Also regarding the pay, he knows he could probably earn a bit more elsewhere, but is more interested in being trained up in this particular programming language to gain experience.

Don't ask me, I'm a computer numpty..

[Wacky Racer]

Big_Kahuna said:

To the OP.

Message from your son:

"I'm 26.

I'm on top of things.

Stop interfering dad, it's my life, not yours."

I accept what you are saying, I'm only trying to help him along a bit, can't see a problem.

He's not on PH and there are lots of IT bods on here...found out some useful stuff already.

[Wacky Racer]

Tonsko said:

2 ways to do the accounts: 'Umbrella company' - whereby the company sort your tax affairs out, and you just get a monthly salary as normal, or you register as a Ltd company and go it alone. 2nd option recommended, due to past colleagues being shafted by st umbrella companies. Will need a permanent home to register the Ltd. company from, so I guess that would be yours, as I don't think Companies House will allow the registered address to be a rented property.

With regards to using your accountant, is he well versed in IT contractors? If not, he might not be the best guy to use as he wouldn't make your son as tax efficient as someone who deals exclusively with IT contractors, or knows the particular area well. Probably no need to be VAT registered as yet, but can be useful. If you do, do the VAT returns yourself, they're fairly straightforward.

Beyond that, make sure contract is 'IR35' checked, and good luck to him!

Thanks very much for that.

That's the kind of advice I was looking for.....

[Wacky Racer]

Well I sent him a link to this thread and he told me to say thanks for all the helpful replies, he really appreciated them.