Agency wanting information

[ChrisW]

hi,

I am 3/4 through a 12 month contract which is up for renewal, working via an recruitment agency. A couple of days ago, they rang me and said they were sending me a "questionnaire" and could I fill it in and send it back asap. I've just received it and it is an odd "questionnaire". It asks for my limited company's name, address, reg.no and Vat.no (which they already have), then asks for the details of all shareholders, directors and authorised signatories to Account, and the Company Bank (they obviously know the bank already as they have been paying my invoices into my business account). Then comes a paragraph "By signing the below you are confirming that you are not operating a Managed Service company, that all the above information is correct and that no payments received from this contract are being transferred off shore. Off shore includes, but is not limited to, Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Cyprus and Switzerland." (The spelling of the Isle of Man with 1 "n" is not my spelling mistake but theirs).Then there is space for me to sign and print my name and put the date. My questions is, do I have to provide this information and sign this? I would have thought the shareholders, directors and signatories of mt company was none of their business, as well as where and what I choose to do with the money my company has been paid. I happen not to be a Managed Service company but use the standard common limited company setup. I do not like divulging unnecessary sensitive information unless I absolutely have to - you only need to read the news in the last fews days to know why. At best, my gut feeling is that in some way I am doing the work their legal department should be doing but are hoping that I'll do for them. Aslso, I am aware of the bad reputation of Managed Services companies and the last I heard was that their legal status was in doubt. Can anyone advise, please?

Thanks in advance,
Chris W

[Sockpuppet]

Reply back to them telling them to STFU. Most of the info is public ally available.

Tell them that you will not be supplying it nor signing the declaration at the bottom.


If they want something tell them that the company will supply a letter stating that "We currently adhere to all applicable UK tax law and it is the opinion of the board that we operate within these laws."

There is nothing against transferring the money offshore, just as long as you pay the correct tax etc as demanded by law.

So their questionnaire is flawed.

[TheFaQQer]

Standard CYA from the agency - if you warrant as a director that your company is complying with the law, then they can't go after the agency.

And "Isle of Man" is spelt correctly.

[TheFaQQer]

It's not an agency that begins with the letters C and P is it?

[ChrisW]

Thanks. I put questionnaire in quotes as it is not a questionnaire but a declaration that I believe they want me to sign. Do I legally even have to tell them that as a company "We currently adhere to all applicable UK tax law and it is the opinion of the board that we operate within these laws." I would have thought it was none of their business. Could my refusal to sign this threaten my contract renewal though. I don't know the law well in this area, But my the client I work for desperately need me to renew, I want to, so can they stop me? If they refused for instance to draw up another contract, could I just go direct to the client?

Finally, what is their motivation behind this, anyway? Would me being a Managed Service company, or transferring money offshore (as I have done in the past, but kept myself legal by paying the correct taxes) put them in an illegal situation?

I just feel it is a bit shady the way they tried to make out it was just some innocent-sounding questionnaire "that we're asking all our contactors to fill out. In fact, you're one of the last few that hasn't." - which makes it sound like everyone's done it and it is not big deal. What are they trying to hide from me.

Thanks again for listening and I've just noticed that I've asked a lot of questions for one post, sorry!
Chris

[exbrm]

Agency wanting information

I would ignore it. Let them hound you by email, text, phone, whatever - ignore. Do you really think they are going to slam on the brakes the day your current contract runs out and cut off one of their "income streams"? If you hit an impasse then ,perhaps, send a letter with company's name, address, reg.no and Vat.no reiterating that you operate as a UK Limited Company and all the information they need is available through "Companies House". Stick up for youselves folks - this is going to become more common. As previous quotes it's a CYA exercise.

[TheFaQQer]

Thanks. I put questionnaire in quotes as it is not a questionnaire but a declaration that I believe they want me to sign. Do I legally even have to tell them that as a company "We currently adhere to all applicable UK tax law and it is the opinion of the board that we operate within these laws." I would have thought it was none of their business. Could my refusal to sign this threaten my contract renewal though. I don't know the law well in this area, But my the client I work for desperately need me to renew, I want to, so can they stop me? If they refused for instance to draw up another contract, could I just go direct to the client?

Unlikely, but they could refuse to draw up a new contract. And there will be something in your contract that stops you from going direct. Is it worth it?

Finally, what is their motivation behind this, anyway? Would me being a Managed Service company, or transferring money offshore (as I have done in the past, but kept myself legal by paying the correct taxes) put them in an illegal situation?

They don't know the law well enough, so they are trying to make sure that they have taken all reasonable steps. No-one really knows what they need to do - I was told by one agency that if I was with / through an MSC they wouldn't deal with me. So if they think you are one, then they might not want to do the renewal.

[exbrm]

[QUOTE=ChrisW;355050]
Finally, what is their motivation behind this, anyway? Would me being a Managed Service company, or transferring money offshore (as I have done in the past, but kept myself legal by paying the correct taxes) put them in an illegal situation?

Hey - remember they have two clients - YOU and the "end client".
They have probably just reviewed their proceedures and are covering their arse.
Yes, if you are judged to be a MSC and you don't cough up (ie. disappear owing £thousands to HMRC) then they are the next in line for the hit.
Expect a lot more of the same.

[ChrisW]

I think they're just being lazy. I mean I'd be lazy if I could skim off other people's hard earned cash for making the odd phone call or printing off the odd letter while sorting my Facebook account out. What, then do you do when asked to do some real work? Why, use your pre-existing thought patterns, which by now are, get someone else to do the work for you.

But seriously folks, thanks for all the advice. I'm going to hold out and see who cracks first. If, in the end all it needs is my own personally worded declaration of legality I can manage that - offsetting the cost of the paper, envelope and stamp against tax as a legitimate business expences, of course.

Ta,
Chris

[Bluebird]

I think they're just being lazy. I mean I'd be lazy if I could skim off other people's hard earned cash for making the odd phone call or printing off the odd letter while sorting my Facebook account out. What, then do you do when asked to do some real work? Why, use your pre-existing thought patterns, which by now are, get someone else to do the work for you.

But seriously folks, thanks for all the advice. I'm going to hold out and see who cracks first. If, in the end all it needs is my own personally worded declaration of legality I can manage that - offsetting the cost of the paper, envelope and stamp against tax as a legitimate business expences, of course.

Ta,
Chris

tell then you'll be quite happy to supply a declaration when they tell you why they need one.

Once you know that you can instruct your solicitors [ at theur expense ] to complete the correctly worded document for your company to sign.