Contractors: IR35 & general discussion

[Autopilot]

wormus said:

Countdown said:

I'm guessing but I'm aware that some part of Government are having problems because they're not geared up for paperless working or remote working. For example if they have a Customer Service Centre they've not been able to route calls to peoples homes in order for them to answer them, or the person answering the phone cant route the inbound call to the right Department (because there's nobody there)

Similarly a lot of Govt Bureaucracy still requires wet signatures and hard copy documents to be posted in. The problem is that offices in london are closed and there will be a skeleton staff who will take in mail but not necessarily sort it/scan it/email it to the right department.

It’s not the 1970s. Most of the civil service is pretty advanced digitally. Read up on GDS.

It's actually a mix of what ITP said as well as both of these comments.

As lockdown started, the message across Government was to stand down non-critical services and that's what happened. Some services would of course not been affected so would be business as usual but that obviously depends on what the service is. The technical capability also varies wildly so am sure that some places found that they couldn't just pack everybody off home (use of desktop PC's, not enough RSA tokens, limited VPN capability, the list goes on). Some places are quite good on the tech front and can access their data from anywhere, others are not so good and still have a very limited capability.

[98elise]

Gazzab said:

SMG Eddie said:

Gazzab said:

tax dodge umbrellas are all the rage

???

According to the experts there was an increase in 0% tax umbrellas during covid. In particular to catch those first time nhs Contractor’s. When I researched umbrellas back in March I was called by one that was offering me 80% take home and they get 20% for administering loans and payments.

Edited by Gazzab on Monday 17th August 10:51

That's not an umbrella company.

It's a very old tax avoidance scheme that no sensible contractor would get involved in due to the number of people now being pursued for the missing tax.

https://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/april_loan_...

Edited by 98elise on Monday 17th August 16:40

[wombleh]

Doubt the vetting agency can work remotely, it’s not exactly the sort of information you can take any chances with.

[Gazzab]

98elise said:

That's not an umbrella company.

It's a very old tax avoidance scheme that no sensible contractor would get involved in due to the number of people now being pursued for the missing tax.

https://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/april_loan_...

Edited by 98elise on Monday 17th August 16:40

Yes everyone knows this. Having been a contractor since 1997 I know many who stupidly took such schemes. The point is they sometimes appear to have taken the umbrella situation as an opportunity and pretend to be an umbrella. Umbrellas marketing spin is all about take home % - so a perfect opportunity for a dodgey off shore loans scheme.

[SMG Eddie]

As someone who is purely motivated by money with an 'all or nothing' mentality, the government took away any incentives for me to work which I've not done for over a year - resorted to claiming benefits. If I ever work again I will need to be purely self-employed in something entirely different but I can't imagine what.

[Deep Thought]

SMG Eddie said:

As someone who is purely motivated by money with an 'all or nothing' mentality, the government took away any incentives for me to work which I've not done for over a year - resorted to claiming benefits. If I ever work again I will need to be purely self-employed in something entirely different but I can't imagine what.

Howso?

Edited by Deep Thought on Thursday 20th August 10:40

[theboss]

SMG Eddie said:

As someone who is purely motivated by money with an 'all or nothing' mentality, the government took away any incentives for me to work which I've not done for over a year - resorted to claiming benefits. If I ever work again I will need to be purely self-employed in something entirely different but I can't imagine what.

I don’t follow your logic. I would have thought “not wanting to live on poverty-style handouts” was a decent enough incentive to earn more, even if the overall tax burden is less preferable than it used to be.

I don’t like it either but I’ll be damned if I ever think that basic welfare entitlements trump earning one’s own way.

[Gazzab]

SMG Eddie said:

As someone who is purely motivated by money with an 'all or nothing' mentality, the government took away any incentives for me to work which I've not done for over a year - resorted to claiming benefits. If I ever work again I will need to be purely self-employed in something entirely different but I can't imagine what.

Assume this is a joke? Working for less than usual is surely better than being on benefits. Unless your daily rate used to be less than £70...?

[SMG Eddie]

Gazzab said:

Assume this is a joke? Working for less than usual is surely better than being on benefits. Unless your daily rate used to be less than £70...?

No it's not a joke. I was never a highly paid contractor either, my typical day rate was around 250 but I completed my own accounts.

[theboss]

SMG Eddie said:

Gazzab said:

Assume this is a joke? Working for less than usual is surely better than being on benefits. Unless your daily rate used to be less than £70...?

No it's not a joke. I was never a highly paid contractor either, my typical day rate was around 250 but I completed my own accounts.

Even PAYE £250/day seems a lot better than £250/week.

[markyb_lcy]

theboss said:

SMG Eddie said:

Gazzab said:

Assume this is a joke? Working for less than usual is surely better than being on benefits. Unless your daily rate used to be less than £70...?

No it's not a joke. I was never a highly paid contractor either, my typical day rate was around 250 but I completed my own accounts.

Even PAYE £250/day seems a lot better than £250/week.

Especially for someone who self-announces they're "purely motivated by money".

[Clockwork Cupcake]

This really does sound like cutting your nose off to spite your face. But each to their own I guess.

[SMG Eddie]

theboss said:

Even PAYE £250/day

The PAYE rates would be much less. Consider a salary of 30-35k.

[markyb_lcy]

SMG Eddie said:

theboss said:

Even PAYE £250/day

The PAYE rates would be much less. Consider a salary of 30-35k.

Contractor calculator says you'd be much better off contracting then.

at £250 a day outside IR35, you'd need to be earning £56,576 for the same take-home.

Inside IR35 it would be £44,247

UK current average salary is £29.6k. Benefits will likely pay a LOT less.

Maybe worth doing some sums in future before making such life-changing decisions and intentionally becoming a drain on the welfare state?

https://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/calculators...

Edited by markyb_lcy on Thursday 20th August 11:09

[SMG Eddie]

markyb_lcy said:

Contractor calculator says you'd be much better off contracting then.

IR35 nullified that option.

[markyb_lcy]

SMG Eddie said:

markyb_lcy said:

Contractor calculator says you'd be much better off contracting then.

IR35 finished that option off.

Incorrect, did you read the whole of my post?

If you're saying PAYE rates are 30-35k then £250 a day is equivalent to a ~£44k salary, which is £15k more than the UK average and considerably more than benefits.

[768]

markyb_lcy said:

SMG Eddie said:

IR35 finished that option off.

Incorrect, did you read the whole of my post?

Is it? Maybe the role he had previously isn't there anymore?

[markyb_lcy]

768 said:

markyb_lcy said:

SMG Eddie said:

IR35 finished that option off.

Incorrect, did you read the whole of my post?

Is it? Maybe the role he had previously isn't there anymore?

And maybe he's broken all 4 major limbs in an accident and therefore can't work at all?

Or, maybe we should just stick to what the OP *has* told us and base opinions on that rather than making up hypotheticals to explain what is on the face of it a poor decision?

[SMG Eddie]

markyb_lcy said:

Incorrect, did you read the whole of my post?

If you're saying PAYE rates are 30-35k then £250 a day is equivalent to a ~£44k salary, which is £15k more than the UK average and considerably more than benefits.

There are no contracts available.

[markyb_lcy]

SMG Eddie said:

markyb_lcy said:

Incorrect, did you read the whole of my post?

If you're saying PAYE rates are 30-35k then £250 a day is equivalent to a ~£44k salary, which is £15k more than the UK average and considerably more than benefits.

There are no contracts available.

Perhaps it might have been a good idea to state this in the first post instead of saying "the govt took away your incentives to work" as the reason for moving to benefits.

And that is solely the fault of the IR35 changes which are not even live until April 2021?

Do you have zero transferrable skills?

In any case, £30-35k a year will beat benefits. Logic seems to be in short supply here

Edited by markyb_lcy on Thursday 20th August 11:26