IR35 and other insurance

[Bod]

PCGPlus is a commercial no-brainer...

I've thought of joining but don't know enough about the services offered to determine if it's a worthwhile cost to my business.

I'll do some reading, there certainly seem to be plenty of signed-up contractors on these boards.

Maybe I'm just being a tight Yorkshireman

[malvolio]

I've thought of joining but don't know enough about the services offered to determine if it's a worthwhile cost to my business.

I'll do some reading, there certainly seem to be plenty of signed-up contractors on these boards.

Maybe I'm just being a tight Yorkshireman

Possibly, but you don't join for the commercial benefit (although the £210 package for PCG Plus would cost somwhere over £750 if sourced independently, not counting the discounts you get on other things) but to become one of 17,000 members whose voice is heard and listened to by HMG.

JFDI - you know it makes sense...

[Sockpuppet]

Damn straight. For £210 having the piece of mind that allows you to go:

"Phone these guys" when HMRC come knocing for a review of tax etc.

Also a lawyer would want at least £150 to knock up a contract. With the draft contracts and looking at other contracts I have recieved (copy+paste) I knocked one up and he charges me £50 to review it.

So that saves me at least £300 per year.

Commerical sense.

[Archangel]

another "PCG plus"er here.

I upgraded for the 5k agency going bust cover (although i think it should be upped to 10k) and the jury service cover. Mates have been stung by both these events in the last 12 months.

[The Lone Gunman]

As I have often said, and will continue to say, I am no lover of the PCG and the way it operates.
HOWEVER; joiniung the PCGplus scheme is a no brainer if you are a UK ltd contractor. Never mind the commercial pluses, the access to expert advice and others is invaluable.

[malvolio]

As I have often said, and will continue to say, I am no lover of the PCG and the way it operates.
.

So you keep saying. What I can't recall you saying is what would you do differently. They have the ear of HMG and Whitehall now, so they can afford to take some lines - with the proviso that HMG is ignorant of what a contractor is, is blind to anything that doesn't result in more tax income, and abhors anyone that doesn't fit the "system" - so any other ideas and approaches would be looked at seriously.

[The Lone Gunman]

So you keep saying. What I can't recall you saying is what would you do differently.

Too big a subject for a forum, need face to face.
It is getting better, but I have a few grievances.
At first we were too aggressive and may have been better served with mediation rather than defiance, but recently it seems to have swung the other way. The PCG seems to want to be over friendly with HMG and HMRC. I know this gets us the ear more easily, but there seems to be no stand up fight when we need it.
e.g. Recently one of the members reported that an HMRC friend had said they were no longer chasing IR35. The PCGs stance was to let it lie. I feel they should have pushed it.
There have been a number of IR35 cases where the agent and/or client have clearly contributed to a fraudulent contract between agent and contractor. Surely the PCG should be funding court cases against said agents and clients.
The PCG originaly pushed a judicial review of IR35 and lost. The summing up for that case showed a great deal of sympathy from the judge but ultimately the IR35 law was legal as long as it was implemented as stated. However (this is my opinion and IANAL) the implementation of IR35 has been vastly different to what the legislation shows. IIRC the judge said that the whole "BIBOYOA" was crucial, yet in virtualy every case HMRC have looked at one single aspect of one single contract in isolation.

The PCG may be covering all this, but it doesnt come out that way.
Much as I neither like nor trust the PCG I am still a member and supporter. I am much tempered by Captain Penguin who is a personal friend and presents the PCG in a reasoned light to me.

[malvolio]

Get yourself to an RLM and do the face-to-face thing then. Or get on their fora and argue on there. You may be amazed just how much is going on behind the scenes.

They haven't given up on IR35 and are still funding appeals and the like to try to resolve the latest round of judicial stupidity. Elsewhere, of course, HMG have dropped the emphasis on IR35 themselves and are keeping it ticking over at noise level while bringing in abortions like FBT to compensate. The same fight, just using different weapons.

And they are more aggressive toward HMG. The FBT proposal was described in the official response as "Conceptually retarded": in Civil Service speak this is as close as you can get to saying "You lot are really off your f***ing trolley" and still maintaining a dialogue. They have a lot of respect in the Civil Service and are punching way above thier weight where it matters.

[Bod]

OK, you've sold me, I shall be signing up to PCG+ forthwith.

Now, which of you has a discount voucher code ? (Yorkshire remember )

[The Lone Gunman]

Sorry Mal, but I have seen the quality of the forums and it does not inspire me to join in or get involved in any real meets.
I could probably hold a reasonable conversation with you, even if you pointed out the error of my ways, but other PCG members........ makes me punchy.

If as you say HMRC are no longer pushing IR35 then why arent the PCG shouting loud and long about how it has failed and how incompetant must be its proposers and supporters?
While IR35 is there (used or not) I still have to work under its cloud and worry every day about its consequences. If it is dead in the water then we should be screaming for it to be removed.
As well as fighting any new idiocy that NL deems fit to foist on us. If we can prove how inept they have been to start with then maybe we can gain some momentum for the future.
It would be nice to see a PCG rep on telly introduced as an expert rep for small and family businesses as well as contractors. As contractors reps the PCG are still irrelevant to Joe public who regard us as a bunch of cowboys to start with.