Parasol Expenses situation from April?

[Xtrain]

?

Hi,

We base our position in that as an employee you are entitled to claim business expenses as you are a)not a "worker" b)not part of the MSC definition and other related matters. The simple analogy would be as an employee you are not able to claim expenses should your employer send you to a project meeting in Birmingham from your home in say Croydon. Clearly you would claim those expenses and be allowed to do so, and yes clearly we have a "magic" solution but one which in real terms is normal practice for real employers but more difficult for those where status is not clear.

We don't like the phrase "umbrella" but of course it is well understood in the industry but has negative connotations and yes our name is a HUGE tip of the hat to the past.

We offer contractors a choice, professional employment, genuine business expenses with no selling of dispensations, training, career development and more. We don't play at being an "employer" by making strange deductions for sickness or holiday and we provide some very specific features that clearly define our unique status.

Hope this helps
Lesley

If any of your workers / employees / whatever you call them have a project meeting in Croydon then I think you / they can allow / claim them. However their travel expenses from where they live to their normal place of work cannot be claimed. You know it, they know it and the IR know it. So please let them all carry on claiming it and when the s*** hits the fan when the IR come a knocking there will be a lot of smug faces here and a lot of unhappy contractors with you!

[jh0711]

join Parasol and become an employee of Parasol - therefore normal place of work is Parasol offices in wherever they are (check contract of employment)

you work on assignment for parasol and therefore have to go to a different client site

thus expenses can be paid by Parasol quite legitmately as you are not at your normal place of work.

no idea why this seems to be causing so much confusion

[malvolio]

join Parasol and become an employee of Parasol - therefore normal place of work is Parasol offices in wherever they are (check contract of employment)

you work on assignment for parasol and therefore have to go to a different client site

thus expenses can be paid by Parasol quite legitmately as you are not at your normal place of work.

no idea why this seems to be causing so much confusion

We're not confused, other than why Parasol seem to be telling porkies.

For one thing it is not the intention of the new legislation and will probably be sat on fairly quickly if they persist in selling it.

Secondly, the rules state that an employer claiming off-site travel must first deduct the travel distance between home and place of work before claiming mileage: not a problem if you live in Warrington, of course, but if you're in Bristol and working in Swindon, for example, it may just have an impact...

[jh0711]

bummer

so what you are saying is that you either get a ltd company and hope you are outside of IR35 (HMRC will love having thousands of new ltd co's to review)

or

go PAYE direct with the agency (hey ho the agencies will love this)

or

Use a brolly but not claim travel expenses (can you claim other expenses still?)

finally why is the fat git Brown penalising persons who are willing to be flexible in their approach to work and do not mind travelling here and there and everywhere to keep them selves in work and in return they get a bit of tax relief - surely this is what the government want when they talk about a flexible work force (or did they just mean a workforce that does what the government says and not complain about the fact they are being taxed to the hilt)

and finally

surely a brolly company is a very communist thing - think abouit it - if everyone ran a Ltd co then lots of people who work for brollies would be made redundant/sacked - with a ltd co all the money goes to one person (plus the government) but with a brolly lots of people get a small slice - share the wealth great communcist principals!

erm maybe

[Rialto99]

Regular Umbrella Payments

guys - quick one for you. One of my colleagues is going Umbrella at the start of the new tax year (I've obviously told him to sort out his own Ltd Comp but what can you do!). Anyway, he's been told by Contractor Umbrella that he'll apparently receive a weekly salary REGARDLESS OF WHETHER HE WORKS OR NOT!!!!. This will be equivalent to about £200 per week with the difference being paid when he actually gets paid by the agency....

Can anyone give me an idea of what the h3ll this is all about and whether Parasol will be doing the same thing? Does this affect the umbrella's ability to processes expenses?!

I'm lost, please help

[ASB]

join Parasol and become an employee of Parasol - therefore normal place of work is Parasol offices in wherever they are (check contract of employment)

you work on assignment for parasol and therefore have to go to a different client site

thus expenses can be paid by Parasol quite legitmately as you are not at your normal place of work.

no idea why this seems to be causing so much confusion

Notwithstanding the other points made whether the IR will accept the Parasol offices as a normal workplace is questionable anyway. Your normal place of work is determined by what happens, not what is written in your contract of employment.

[jh0711]

hey rialto i think the company you are talking about is Consultant technologies - they use loans etc and are v dodgy - if your mate insists on using an umbrella then fine but try a different one.

Notwithstanding the other points made whether the IR will accept the Parasol offices as a normal workplace is questionable anyway. Your normal place of work is determined by what happens, not what is written in your contract of employment.

That is interesting as on a different thread when talking about contrtacts and IR35 it seems exactly the opposite is happening - e.g. it does not matter what you do as long as the contract is written to be outside Ir35

hey ho does anyone know what is happening?

[malvolio]

...


That is interesting as on a different thread when talking about contrtacts and IR35 it seems exactly the opposite is happening - e.g. it does not matter what you do as long as the contract is written to be outside Ir35

hey ho does anyone know what is happening?

IF the contract reflects reality, then no conflict and no problem. However, if you have a contract that does not describe your working practices - for example, if the contract says you can set your own hours but in reality you have to be there between 9 and 5 regardless - the written contract will be disregarded in an investigation.

Despite all the legal niceties and get-out-of-jail clauses, at the end of the day you have to be able to demonstrate you are not a disguised employee. That s not that hard to do, if you understand the rules, but there will always be people out there who will fail that basic test.

[Rialto99]

hey rialto i think the company you are talking about is Consultant technologies - they use loans etc and are v dodgy - if your mate insists on using an umbrella then fine but try a different one.

****************************************

cheers JH, but I definitely think its Contractor Umbrella. I've managed to copy this from their website....Any thoughts???



Summary of changes from April 2007
The Government has deemed that, in order to be fully compliant with current and future legislation, umbrella companies must become employer to all of its members. Recent legislation, proposed by the Government to counter tax avoidance, has brought into question the legality of contractors claiming expenses through umbrella companies but this should not apply to contractors working as an employee through an Employment Service Company.

Therefore, in order to give our customers a fully compliant and beneficial service we will be changing the structure of ContractorUmbrella to coincide with the start of the new tax year on 6th April 2007. From this date you will become a flexible employee of ContractorUmbrella with all the employment rights that this entails; you will not be required to do any more than you do now and, despite the additional workload created for us by these Government changes we will not be increasing our fees.

The best news from your point of view is that you will now receive a fixed and guaranteed salary each week (or month). This will be paid regardless of when, or indeed if we get paid by your agency. You will then receive the balance of the income, as now, once we get paid by the agency.

The payment will be for minimum wage (£5.35 per hour) multiplied by the number of hours you have worked within the period. The balance of your invoice will then be paid when funds are received from your agency/client. Those of you who are set up as weekly will receive payment each Thursday and monthly contractors will receive payment on the last Thursday of each month.

In order to comply with UK and EEC Employment Law we will deduct a small amount each week for holiday and sick pay. This will be based on the mandatory 20 days holiday per year and an assumption of 2 weeks sickness per year. The deduction will be pro-rated and will be based on a minimum wage payment. Both deductions will total less than £19 for weekly paid contractors and just over £60 for monthly contractors (based on 37.5 hours per week or 120 hours per month). Obviously this means that you will have a fund available to you if you wish to take holiday and, if you are unlucky enough to fall ill you will have access to an income.

We realise that the Government's actions will mean a change for all of you but there are many benefits to you, not least the security of employmen

[malvolio]

Well the up side is that you can forget about IR35 from then on, since you are an employee and it doesn't apply. The down side is you are paying full tax on all your income, just like employees. So you are now a full time employee with no rights (for example, you are paying for your own employee benefits like holidays and sick time) and you still have to find your own work.

And this is a good thing?