Returning as a contractor

[bechampion]

Hi guys , i have an important legal question , i have asked to a number of accountants and I've had different opinions.
I was working for company X as a full time employee and i decided to go contracting , A month ago i started contracting for company Y.
But yesterday company X offered me to contract for them , that would be returning to the company that once i was working permanently for but this time as a contractor.

I've asked 3 accountants about this , 1 of them said literally stay way from something like this , the taxman will chase you. Some others say , as long as there is a month or so in between it should be
just fine.

I am not fully convinced , have any of you been in a situation like this before?

Thank you!!

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

The devil will be in the detail.

Nobody can answer this, other than you, with the benefit of a contract and working practices review.

Maybe its fine, maybe its not.

This assumes you want to be outside IR35; if you are "happy" to be inside then so long as the deal stacks up with contract rate now being higher than former pemi rate to take account of loss of benefits, then its fine.

[BlasterBates]

Going back to your employer would raise a red flag but in the end the burden of proof is the same as for any other contract.

The fact is when you start a contract you're not involved in the day to day operation and you focus on developing some piece of code. That sort of relationship is usually easy to prove as being outside IR35. However once your code goes live you usually start to get increasingly involved in the day to day operations, and if you're not careful at some point you cross the line to within IR35. This happens when the PM gives you multiple instructions during a typical working day, eg update the database, install a new version or investigate an issue. If your PM is constantly asking you to do something then really you're inside IR35.

What you need to be careful about going back to your previous employer is that you don't immediately end up in that position because you're so familiar with the systems and organisation.

[tarbera]

Going back to your employer would raise a red flag

If you are unlucky enough to get investigated probably about 0.001% chance %.

Fixed that for you