Contracing via consultancy - is it more IR35 friendly?

[ContractorBanking]

I'm thinking of contracting via a consultancy - does going through a consultancy have any bearing on IR35?

[Louisa@InTouch]

IR35 will look at the working conditions between you and your end client directly, to see if it is similar to that of an employee/employer relationship.

If you have a contract via a consultancy, the clauses can be reviewed around IR35. However if this is a large agency, it's likely the clauses will be generic and therefore not reflect what happens day-to-day.

Therefore it's always worthwhile chatting through your working conditions in detail and having a review done so that you are happy with your status as a contractor.

[cojak]

Yes, in my experience it does make you IR35 friendly if you mean that you are more likely to be caught by IR35.

Consultancies like (insist?) that you go into a client representing the consultancy, some of them even give you business cards to that effect.

It's less of a problem if the consultancy allows you to be an Associate and is happy to let client know that you aren't a permanent employee.

(PS. If any HMRC bod is reading this, I terminated this contract the week after they gave me the business cards and lasted all of 8 weeks...)

[Pondlife]

WCS

It's another layer to add SDC. As far as the client is concerned you're the same as all the other shiny suits on site and that's what Consultancy Co will want.

[northernladuk]

I started a thread about this ages ago as I had questions about whether you had to dodge two D&C bullets here or does the structure make D&C more difficult to prove as you need to decide who's D&C trumps who etc.

This was back in the day before I'd made my bed so it did actually turn in to an interesting discussion

http://forums.contractoruk.com/busin...ts-client.html

[SueEllen]

My experience differs.

On all occasions the end-client knew I was a contractor.

The one occasion the client made a fuss all the consultancy contractors and permies had weekly meetings to discuss the work etc.

[MrMarkyMark]

On all occasions the end-client knew I was a contractor.

I have always made sure the client knows, in fact it can work to your advantage if the client does not rate the cosultancy.

[LondonManc]

I have always made sure the client knows, in fact it can work to your advantage if the client does not rate the cosultancy.

Agreed.

The first contract I ever had was for a consultancy and that was via umbrella. Lucrative enough but didn't see it as a long-term thing.
Went back perm for a few years to improve my skill set further and eventually decided to try my hand at contracting again as I prefered project-based work.
The only consultancy I've worked for since was as an associate - end client knew we were a pool of contractors but we were coming in at a good rate for them so didn't mind.

[aoxomoxoa]

These days all my gigs are as an associate for a small niche consulting firm who are very happy to exert no D&C, and as far as the end clients are concerned I'm providing a specialist advisory role - so no D&C from them either. Contract reviews by Qdos have been PASSes.

The only thing that niggles me slightly from an IR35 perspective is that the consulting firm also expects its permies to work autonomously, so there's limited D&C differentiation between associates and permies.

[MrMarkyMark]

The only thing that niggles me slightly from an IR35 perspective is that the consulting firm also expects its permies to work autonomously, so there's limited D&C differentiation between associates and permies.

I wouldn't worry what is expected from the permies, it is your b2b relationship with the consultancy you need to "worry" about.