BN66 - Time to fight back: Continued

[Hawkwind]

Hi Brillo - I've been reading your posts with a lot of interest over the last few weeks.

I was wonderin if you could give me some advice.

Basically the gist of it is this - I've been with Montpelier since January. However after all of this has kicked off I'm wondering whether I should stay with them.

I was with SJD until January and then moved across to Montpelier - would you recommend me going back to having a Ltd company now or having a Ltd company in April?

Thanks.

You might not get the choice as a lot of agencies are refusing to deal with MP or MTM after the latest round of government intermediaries legislation. I've just been contacted by my agent to say that my contract will end in December if I stay with them. I doubt the end client with sanction an agency switch if it were possible. The same also happened with my previous client and a different agency in 06.

I ran a Ltd. Company from 93-02 which I've kept dormant so I'll probably re-open that if necessary. I used to do my own accounts but with all the new legislation (the main reason for being in the MP scheme of course) I think I'll go with one of the main firms. SJD seem to look OK (any experiences anyone?) and seem to offer an IR35 contract check where you only pay a fee if you are considered to be outside which doesn't sound too bad.

Quite what to do if its inside I don't know - ideally find one that isn't but I'm expecting contracts to be few and far between next year.

[BrilloPad]

Thanks for that!

So you're out of the scheme now? I'm thinking of leaving it to be honest. As soon as at the end of this month. Don't worry I'm not spending anything but doing as you're saying - putting it into a pot for the future.

Another question I've got is if I was to leave the montpelier scheme now would they still do the SA for this tax year or do I get my accountant to do it. Would it be the case that i'll probably be liable to pay a high rate on tax on anything that has gone into my account from montpelier if my new accountant does the SA?

Thanks in advance mate - appreciate it.

JT

I left the scheme on Friday - first day of limited yesterday.

Montpelier have offered to give me the figures I need to tell my accountant - but my accountant does not want to touch! I am going to twist his arm.....

You are best to contact montp to confirm - let me know if you struggle to get a response and my friend will try to expedite matters.....

[BrilloPad]

You might not get the choice as a lot of agencies are refusing to deal with MP or MTM after the latest round of government intermediaries legislation. I've just been contacted by my agent to say that my contract will end in December if I stay with them. I doubt the end client with sanction an agency switch if it were possible. The same also happened with my previous client and a different agency in 06.

I ran a Ltd. Company from 93-02 which I've kept dormant so I'll probably re-open that if necessary. I used to do my own accounts but with all the new legislation (the main reason for being in the MP scheme of course) I think I'll go with one of the main firms. SJD seem to look OK (any experiences anyone?) and seem to offer an IR35 contract check where you only pay a fee if you are considered to be outside which doesn't sound too bad.

Quite what to do if its inside I don't know - ideally find one that isn't but I'm expecting contracts to be few and far between next year.

SJC post on cuk regularly and seem to have a very good reputation. The fact that they are prepared to post here (considering some of the nonsense that goes on!) is, IMO, a very dtrong pointer.

[JT_Contractor]

Thanks

SJC post on cuk regularly and seem to have a very good reputation. The fact that they are prepared to post here (considering some of the nonsense that goes on!) is, IMO, a very dtrong pointer.

Thanks BP..

I'll be going back to SJD as well. So i'll have to see what they say with regards to Montpellier. I'll also talk to Montpellier about it because I don't think I want to continue doing this even though I've only been doing it for around 10 months.

Thanks for your advice as always and I'll let you know what the response is from Montpellier once I sort out my next contract.

Cheers

JT

[ContractIn]

Hi Brillo - I've been reading your posts with a lot of interest over the last few weeks.

I was wonderin if you could give me some advice.

Basically the gist of it is this - I've been with Montpelier since January. However after all of this has kicked off I'm wondering whether I should stay with them.

I was with SJD until January and then moved across to Montpelier - would you recommend me going back to having a Ltd company now or having a Ltd company in April?

Thanks.

For what my opinion is worth, I would not stick with them for two reasons:

1) Many agencies and end clients will not deal with MP or similar schemes. When I was with them I found my own clients but almost lost them because they would not deal with MP direct. Now with MSC legislation etc, whether MP say they are exempt, clients and agencies just steer clear, so your future work is limited.

2) Whatever scheme MP have it will be attacked by HMRC in the future so if you don't want the stress that we are going through I would cut and run now, even though you have 10 months exposure.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

1) Many agencies and end clients will not deal with MP or similar schemes.

I found this too. Most of my work over the past few years has been with one client who had a sole agency agreement with Alexander Mann. Alex Mann would only deal with PSCs or Umbrellas that paid PAYE (no divis or other fancy stuff).

I queried this with one their senior managers and (off the record) he said that they had been warned by HMRC that they would use the new debt transfer rules to come after the company for unpaid tax/nic.

My guess is that the government has been leaning on all the big agencies and consultancies to steer clear of anything which could involve tax avoidance. Apart from going after them for unpaid tax they've probably also threatened to withdraw public sector contracts.

Perhaps it's only a matter of time before agencies are "persuaded" not to deal with any PSCs operating outside IR35?

[smalldog]

hmmm, why cant I vote on the poll??

[BrilloPad]

hmmm, why cant I vote on the poll??

Is it because the poll was moved?

Probably best to PM admin.......

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Is that just speculation, or did TW actually get a deal? I haven't heard anything from that camp for months.

I was in contact with some of the people who went with the break-away SuoMotu scheme run by Alan Jones and Giles Morris (friends of Tim Warr). The scheme hadn't been operating long when they closed it down voluntarily, so there wouldn't have been much interest accrued. As I recall, the consession was 30% on the trust income in return for settling. The clients were given no choice in the matter and at the time many were really pissed off but I guess they might look back on it now as a lucky escape.

Unfortunately, I don't think this deals sets any kind of precedent since it predates the retrospective legislation by several years. Having reached a settlement, presumably HMRC can't re-open their tax returns and sting them for the extra tax/nic/interest they should have paid?

Having said all that, I'm sure HMRC's handling of the SuoMotu scheme will come up in the JR.

[poppy01]

Light relief - pun intended

In these dark days its good to have a bit of a giggle. On that note a very funny thing happened on the way to work this morning.

I was sitting opposite some guy with a laptop, had a big set of earphones on and the laptop turned away from the aisle. Suddenly I hear, ‘yeah,yeah, come on baby, etc.etc..’ from the speakers really loud - he’s watching porno and hasn’t got the earphones plugged in properly.

Didnt realise for about 30 seconds, I was waving at him and pointing at my ears but he didn’t get it for ages…

if you're a poster then my apologies, but more likely to be HMRC