BN66 - Time to fight back: Continued

[Emigre]

I don't know about anyone else but I just can't bear the thought of handing over 50% of my income to this incompetant Government, so as long I can satisy myself that any new schemes won't be classed as evasion I think I'll stick it out.

I'm sick to death of hearing this Government telling us that "its right and its fair" for tax avoiders to pay their fair share of tax. Their solution is that contractors, who carry the risks of self-employment, little/no notice period, no pension, no paid holidays, no sick benefit, pay 50% tax. I thought the top rate of tax was 40%...so now where are we on right and fair?

[Lewis]

Thanks Lewis. This is a long hard read but well worth it. It says a lot about loan schemes, not to mention the obvious demise of EBT. One of the attendees was interesting - Ed Gittins of MP...

Yeah sorry I forgot to mention that Montpellier were involved in this case.

[expat]

I'm sick to death of hearing this Government telling us that "its right and its fair" for tax avoiders to pay their fair share of tax. Their solution is that contractors, who carry the risks of self-employment, little/no notice period, no pension, no paid holidays, no sick benefit, pay 50% tax. I thought the top rate of tax was 40%...so now where are we on right and fair?

Their solution to that is that we suffer from having the wrong status. We should be employed, so it's our fault if we accept a status that does not give us these rights.

This is Labour thinking:
1. it's easier to control if everybody is employed.
2. we are selling out the employment protections fought for by generations of workers....
3. if we have to give up our Ltd Cos and go and be employed by the likes of Accenture on a salary of 40% of the rate if we're lucky, this will not upset a cabinet of ex (?) Accenture types.

[redkieran]

I'm actually tempted to go permie. What is the point in being a consultant if you pay more tax, don't get sick pay, can get laid off without redundancy, and you don't get paid holiday. I liked it when I first started because I could take the risk and preferred the cash. Now I don't really see any benefit.

[redkieran]

Yes, I agree. When I got in the scheme in April 2002 there was never any mention that the scheme might not work or there was any risk with it. I was told it would probably last 12 months before HMRC closed it down and that would be that.

You must have gone to a very different presentation to me! I was told that it would be defended to House of Lords (I don't think they mentioned ECHR) and there was no guarantee or proof it would work. The more aggressive a plan you take the more risk there is.

[MuddyFunster]

You must have gone to a very different presentation to me! I was told that it would be defended to House of Lords (I don't think they mentioned ECHR) and there was no guarantee or proof it would work. The more aggressive a plan you take the more risk there is.

They said it was all fine until HMRC started investigating. Then I was told by MP that they were expecting that would happen and everything was still fine.

No worries they said!!

I didn't go to any presentations, just a one-on-one meeting at the intermediary company. The other thing I remember is that I wasn't told I needed to pay NIC myself. They had 'forgotten' to tell the early members that they had to do this, which I subsequently found out about two years later when I got chased for not paying it and had a reasonably large bill to pay.

[SantaClaus]

...
Bottom line here though is that the ability to apply retrospective legislation can change anything, this too. And it doesn't necessarily stop there. What stops them from changing tax rates retrospectively for particular categories of person? The point is the evil of retrospective legislation. The Govt gets away with what may be a fringe area this year, next year it becomes a mainstream attack with a precedent to support them.

This invasion of human rights and the uncertainty created needs to be halted here and now before all of corporate UK becomes corporate Irish and before all of the contractors (hi everyone ) take a permanent hike to the sun.

On this subject, I think at the very least, everyone should put pen to paper and start writing to their MPs. Although some people think this is a "tax avoiding scum" issue, as Emigre points out, it will soon become a mainstream issue that will affect everyone.

So I will be writing even to my socialist MP, Jeremy Corbyn and pointing out the abuse of the human rights act that this govt. are inflicting. Not to mention some letters to the shadow Chancellor regarding the effect, the uncertainty of tax will have on the (already down the gutter) economy.

Some letters to the Daily Mail, Telegraph and FT wouldnt go amiss either.

So stop posting and start writing

[DonkeyRhubarb]

So stop posting and start writing

If you are willing to write to your MP, you can do it by email. See here for sample letter and link.

http://forums.contractoruk.com/622437-post1750.html

Don't copy it word for word, otherwise it might get binned.

It will only take a few minutes so what does it matter if you think it's a waste of time?

[BrilloPad]

They said it was all fine until HMRC started investigating. Then I was told by MP that they were expecting that would happen and everything was still fine.

No worries they said!!

I didn't go to any presentations, just a one-on-one meeting at the intermediary company. The other thing I remember is that I wasn't told I needed to pay NIC myself. They had 'forgotten' to tell the early members that they had to do this, which I subsequently found out about two years later when I got chased for not paying it and had a reasonably large bill to pay.

Were there any penalties? Did montp pay them?

[SantaClaus]

If you are willing to write to your MP, you can do it by email. See here for sample letter and link.

http://forums.contractoruk.com/622437-post1750.html

Don't copy it word for word, otherwise it might get binned.

It will only take a few minutes so what does it matter if you think it's a waste of time?

Thanks DR
Might be worth writing to the European MEPs too in light of what this is about.