ir35 contract review - what to expect?

[cinek]

Quick question, if you pay for a ir35 review service, what do you expect to get back? A short statement followed by a table highlighting good & bad clauses or some recommendations on what should be changed in the contract?

[jamesbrown]

It really depends what you're paying for. Services range from a bare bones assessment of the contract clauses w/r to IR35 to a comprehensive review of the contract and working practices, together with any negotiation required to amend the contract terms. You can pay anything from fifty quid to a couple of hundred quid.

[northernladuk]

Some of the reviews will also include them negotiating with your agent/client to change the offending clauses on your behalf.

[cinek]

thanks guys, what company would you recommend for ir35 reviews? qdos?

[jamesbrown]

thanks guys, what company would you recommend for ir35 reviews? qdos?

TBH, I wouldn't recommend their basic review, but their comprehensive one is OK. I'd personally recommend Abbey Tax or Bauer and Cottrell for attention to detail (and for negotiation with the agent/client if you need that), although you pay more. Make sure any review includes the working practices, as far as they are known.

[mudskipper]

TBH, I wouldn't recommend their basic review, but their comprehensive one is OK. I'd personally recommend Abbey Tax or Bauer and Cottrell for attention to detail (and for negotiation with the agent/client if you need that), although you pay more. Make sure any review includes the working practices, as far as they are known.

If you're a member and go via IPSE, there's a discount on the Abbey Tax service.

https://www.ipse.co.uk/contract-review

[ShandyDrinker]

TBH, I wouldn't recommend their basic review, but their comprehensive one is OK. I'd personally recommend Abbey Tax or Bauer and Cottrell for attention to detail (and for negotiation with the agent/client if you need that), although you pay more. Make sure any review includes the working practices, as far as they are known.

+1 for Bauer and Cottrell.

[AnotherGuy]

Aren't the working practices only really available once you start working in the assigment?
So if you were to accept or decline a future contract, without actually having started work yet, you can only do it based on a review of the contract, am I right?

[jamesbrown]

Aren't the working practices only really available once you start working in the assigment?
So if you were to accept or decline a future contract, without actually having started work yet, you can only do it based on a review of the contract, am I right?

To a significant degree, yes. However, the contract won't prescribe all of the detail surrounding working practices (or your history with the client, if any) and you can talk to a prospective client about those working arrangements in advance of signing the contract. A Confirmation of Arrangements template would provide a starting point for that discussion. However, working practices ultimately refer to what happens in practice, and not what the client says might happen, so there's a large degree of truth to what you say and, for the same reason, it's important to get as much as possible about those working practices in writing (i.e. ideally in the contract itself), and provide this, together with any contextual information, to the reviewer. Having a basic review of contractual clauses isn't enough, but you also don't have perfect foresight on the actual working practices. That said, if they subsequently deviate from your understanding, you'll have a choice to make.

[AnotherGuy]

Thanks jamesbrown.

Another related question. From an IR35 perspective, is it good or bad if the contract/schedule doesn't mention specific location, how many days per week, or working hours?