avoid 40% dividend tax

[TheFaQQer]

100% agree, this is the first time ever I've been out of work, since December 2014 and no end in sight.

There's a lot of this around at the moment, or so I've read. Winter is here, and it could be a long one.

[northernladuk]

If you do a search you will find threads of posters who have been out of contract for a year. This is one of the famous threads on it.

Also the more contractors you meet the more you will hear stories of those who didn't work for a period of time due their own illness, a family member's serious illness, the fact they wanted to spend some time with their child(ren) or they went travelling..

That's one story. The other is you lose all your self-worth and the respect of all your peers and end up like this one...

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...based-jsa.html

[SueEllen]

That's one story. The other is you lose all your self-worth and the respect of all your peers and end up like this one...

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...based-jsa.html

Be nice!

The poster in the thread I linked to was ordered by other forum members to claim benefits

[Fred Bloggs]

There's a lot of this around at the moment, or so I've read. Winter is here, and it could be a long one.

There is. Large number of LinkedIn profiles saying "Available for new role" is some evidence of that. I had an 18 month war chest which depletes at the end of May. If things don't pick up it'll be the end of MyCo Ltd for me.

[SueEllen]

There is. Large number of LinkedIn profiles saying "Available for new role" is some evidence of that. I had an 18 month war chest which depletes at the end of May. If things don't pick up it'll be the end of MyCo Ltd for me.

You can claim JSA once you individually and the company itself have below £16K. Depending on your personally circumstances and where you live this means you can get help with other things now or sooner so aren't completely in the sh*t.

[handyandy]

Just a word of advice to the OP - if you want to post questions on how to avoid tax you should probably set yourself up with a pseudonym - HMRC do read stuff here and you don't want to flag yourself as an 'avoider' because apparently that is just plain immoral (and they will try to use every trick they have to wring you dry).

[Fred Bloggs]

You can claim JSA once you individually and the company itself have below £16K. Depending on your personally circumstances and where you live this means you can get help with other things now or sooner so aren't completely in the sh*t.

Thanks SE, I have a small company pension in payment, so I don't qualify, I looked into that.

[seanraaron]

This is a rather sobering thread. Not that I didn't consider the possibility of dry spells, but I was planning a nice summer holiday on the assumption of an extension to my current contract. The lack of actual work makes getting to six months far from certain, but worst case would be blowing my wad on airplane tickets and then having no cushion, which seems unwise. Starting to think this should be put off another year maybe...

[Fred Bloggs]

That's exactly why I posted. 18 months ago I would never have envisaged over a year with no work and none in sight.

[northernladuk]

That's exactly why I posted. 18 months ago I would never have envisaged over a year with no work and none in sight.

Sorry to hear this and hope it changes soon but thanks for coming on and explaining there is the other side to contracting.