Some advice from the 'Old hands' please.....

[ExMob001]

I require a small piece of advice. As an ex-military chap and one that's:

a) Not too bright
b) A 'newbie' in the 'uber' complicated world of contracting

Would anyone recommend me using an 'IOM offshore discretionary payment' company (i.e. Sanzar Solutions)?

I am aware of the current pitfulls regarding BN66 - does this fall into that catergory? Also, the company keeps contacting me, offering legal protection if it does goes T**s up. - would this make any difference if the dreaded HRMC started to knock at my door??

Many thanks, and best of luck to you awaiting forthcoming decisions...

Up the revolution - Down with Brown!

[Drewster]

Hi Menelaus

[The Wikir Man]

Would anyone recommend me using an 'IOM offshore discretionary payment' company (i.e. Sanzar Solutions)?

No.

I am aware of the current pitfulls regarding BN66 - does this fall into that catergory?

Yes

Also, the company keeps contacting me, offering legal protection if it does goes T**s up. - would this make any difference if the dreaded HRMC started to knock at my door??

Probably not - what are they insuring? What are they covering? Who is backing the insurance? If they aren't covering any ruling by HMRC that you owe more tax than they say you do, and won't cover any penalties, and the insurance is only underwritten by them (and they go bust or shut down or disappear), then it's worthless.

[chef]

short, concise post of the day IMO.. well done wikir man

[The Wikir Man]

short, concise post of the day IMO.. well done wikir man

I'd lengthened that one as well! Originally, the last paragraph just said "no".

[TykeMerc]

What Wikir Man said is concise and accurate, unless you're feeling braver than Rambo on bad acid then you're taking a serious risk that HMRC will eventually come down on you like a metric farktonne of bricks.

BN66 has proven that even if the scheme appears whiter than white from a legal standpoint at the moment judicious use of the HMRC time machine at some point could leave you in a world of brown stinky stuff in the future.

My reasoned advice is to steer well clear of any of these schemes and either go with a standard Ltd or an Umbrella if you can't face running a company.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

HMR&C do not like 'schemes' that will involve anyone paying less tax than HMR&C think they should or than HMR&C may think that they should at any time in the future.

No insurer that expects to be an insurer for any length of time will underwrite a scheme that could involve a potential tax liability, especially as HMR&C can now impose 200% of tax owing as a penalty.

[Vallah]

I am aware of the current pitfulls regarding BN66 - does this fall into that catergory?

To give a slightly more accurate answer than Wikir Man, no.

[The Wikir Man]

To give a slightly more accurate answer than Wikir Man, no.

Explain, please. How is using an 'IOM offshore discretionary payment' company not an abuse of the double taxation treaty that BN66 is designed to close?

[sal626]

Explain, please. How is using an 'IOM offshore discretionary payment' company not an abuse of the double taxation treaty that BN66 is designed to close?

DTA was one scheme, EBT is a different scheme. The fact that they are both run from IOm is irrelevant.