Emulating an MSC ??

[Grim Reaper]

Hi all,
First post after been watching for several weeks and contains some useful advice so thanks to you all. This might interest you (or not).
I recently won a contract after being head hunted by a large employer. They then refered me to their 'prefered' agency; Hayes IT. Not a problem I thought, until I spoke to them and they asked me which payment agency I was using, which their reply was, "well you can't use them with us and if you want the position you have to switch to one of our prefered payment agencies, or use Ltd".
Sounds like some real back handing is going on here, I thought.
The reason why Hayes do this is in their words "to protect the client", where as other agencies deliberately have no steer and you sort you own taxes methods out.
Going Ltd was something I was not too keen about doing as I have been Ltd before and had a crap accountant, which has since put me off. Since then I have been with a tax consultancy who pay me on time, are there when you want them etc so why should I switch because some recruitment agency have an 'arrangement'.
Also the contract looked to be inside IR35, so there is little to be gained from going Ltd, over some of the better brollies.

This is the good bit: I spoke to Parasol to find out what their returns etc were and I mentioned to them the Ltd company inside IR35 option, using an accountant like SJD, where you just send them your expenses, payments etc and they sort the rest out. They beleive that this way of working (having a Ltd, but with an accountancy that takes care of the paperwork) is sudo emulating an MSC.

Anyone had any simular encounters ?

[simondolan]

Total nonsense.

Parasol et al will be biased because they don't have the facility to work for Ltd Cos. We on the other hand have both Ltd Co and umbrella facilities so can offer an independant opinion between the two.

Provided the accountant has no control over the bank account of the Ltd, and exerts no control over the Company there is no issue whatsover.

Hi all,
First post after been watching for several weeks and contains some useful advice so thanks to you all. This might interest you (or not).
I recently won a contract after being head hunted by a large employer. They then refered me to their 'prefered' agency; Hayes IT. Not a problem I thought, until I spoke to them and they asked me which payment agency I was using, which their reply was, "well you can't use them with us and if you want the position you have to switch to one of our prefered payment agencies, or use Ltd".
Sounds like some real back handing is going on here, I thought.
The reason why Hayes do this is in their words "to protect the client", where as other agencies deliberately have no steer and you sort you own taxes methods out.
Going Ltd was something I was not too keen about doing as I have been Ltd before and had a crap accountant, which has since put me off. Since then I have been with a tax consultancy who pay me on time, are there when you want them etc so why should I switch because some recruitment agency have an 'arrangement'.
Also the contract looked to be inside IR35, so there is little to be gained from going Ltd, over some of the better brollies.

This is the good bit: I spoke to Parasol to find out what their returns etc were and I mentioned to them the Ltd company inside IR35 option, using an accountant like SJD, where you just send them your expenses, payments etc and they sort the rest out. They beleive that this way of working (having a Ltd, but with an accountancy that takes care of the paperwork) is sudo emulating an MSC.

Anyone had any simular encounters ?

[Sockpuppet]

Just go LTD again. This time get a better accountant.

[dude69]

Just go LTD again. This time get a better accountant.

or DIY, and then just pay someone to do your year-end stuff, if you're not confident.

[andy-moo]

iam with danbro, under their brollie at moment who have been spot on, but since i joined my skills portfolio has increased alot (thus getting payed more) so i may consider forming my own Ltd with them.

Is it alot more hassle though?? as i am quite lazy.

[Bluebird]

iam with danbro, under their brollie at moment who have been spot on, but since i joined my skills portfolio has increased alot (thus getting payed more) so i may consider forming my own Ltd with them.

Is it alot more hassle though?? as i am quite lazy.

No it's not too much work, and you should improve your takehome.

When I went LTD I improved my takehome from 65% to over 80% - well worth the hour or so it takes me each month.

[andy-moo]

Cheers, I am going to look into it in more depth.

[Dark Black]

<snip>

Yo... another Death!

Go Ltd again - worth it even if you are deemed to be inside IR35, and you have better control over your money.

Umbrellas have their place - mainly if you're not sure contracting is for you and just want to try it out. But if you're long term serious then Ltd all the way...

Now... where did I leave my scythe?

[david@purpleaccounts.com]

Ltd is definitely the best option from a tax perspective. If you don't want to do the paperwork yourself, then get an accountant who has experience of dealing with contractors. An accountant will be acting in a professional capacity providing advice as an accountant, therefore not caught by MSC legislation. You as a Director of the ltd co must have total control of the bank account. If you contact me directly, l'd be happy to send you a comprehensive guide to running a ltd co. david@purpleaccounts.com

[Bluebird]

is this sort of blatent advertising allowed on the forum ?