Paying invoice to personal account

[anonymous-user]

Little bit of advice begging from PH's employment bods...

I have been presented with an invoice from a contractor by my US based CFO, with (confirmed) personal bank account details of the contractor and have been asked to pay it from our UK entity.

The invoice does not have any corporate name, company number or VAT details (although that may not be an issue itself), just the name of the individual presenting the invoice for their services in the last month for work done in the UK. The lack of any corporate details seems to contradict HM Gov requirements for invoicing.

Im a little wary of paying this as it doesn't gel with any other previous contractor my firm as engaged with, who have all had a corporate entity that has been party to a contract etc etc.

Any help welcomed!

Edited by djstevec on Friday 10th June 22:51

[essayer]

There's nothing wrong with a personal invoice, but what was the actual contract engaged with? Was it him personally or a Ltd co or a payroll company..?

[williamp]

if the contractor is a sole trader then he and the business are one and the same thing. So he can legally use a personal account for his business (not advisable, but not illegal). Therefore he wont be incorporated, wont have a company number, wont have anything and the invoice will just have his personal details on it.

(if he is a sole trader, he will register for self assessment and pay his tax before April next year, so you pay him gross and he sorts it all out).

However it could be dodgy if the payment should normally be going to a different account, and someone is trying to get you to pay them instead. That is fraud and illegal.

If I were you, check what has been done in the past. If this is the same as every month then fine. If not, then check who the original contractor agreement was with. If the agreement is with this person, then pay them. Its upto them to pay HMRC the tax which is owed. If the agreement is with an incorporated business then don't pay, and contact them instead.

[anonymous-user]

Thank you both.

This is the first invoice, so no prior history of payments to rely on and why I am little wary of following an instruction when it doesnt appear to follow all other contractor relationships we've had before this.

I'll ask for a copy of the contract to see who the parties are.

Thanks again, nicely concise advice....esp on a Friday night!!

S

[essayer]

I think you're right to be wary, presumably it's not a small amount of money and there's so much going on now related to hacked email accounts, people sending fraudulent emails with fake bank details etc.

As a contractor, if I was in the same situation I certainly wouldn't mind you waiting until Monday to clarify it with me.