Offshore Option

[Vallah]

No, the new rules that relate to earned income of any kind.

That's about the same level of understanding typically displayed by Lisa.

[NotAllThere]

if there is so much risk with these types of schemes why doesnt everyone just simply operate as a self employed person, offset their expenses and reduce the tax that way ??

Because you can't work through agencies as a self-employed person (sole trader).

[geoff from contracta IOM]

The bit that is unclear is how you prove beyond doubt that the income an individual receives in the UK - be it salary, loan, free access to credit, disposable goods or magic beans - is exempt from PAYE and NICs under the provisions of the recent changes and remains so until you die. After all, if it's fully legal, it is easily accessible to anyone to do without hiding behind a QC's possibly biased opinion. Explain that, clearly and concisely, and collectively you may have some credibility.

As always the devil is in the detail and there are a lot of component parts which we are happy to go into with genuine interested parties. As you are aware there are a number of " tests " or thresholds used to determine compliance with various pieces of legislation such as those relating to DR , commercial purpose , accessibility and so on

[NotAllThere]

I've looked at their website, and I have to say it's fairly detailed. What exactly are the details that you think haven't been disclosed?

You will be engaged as a self-employed contractor and will agree to supply your services to Contracta
Contracta will make an onward supply of your services to its clients. In exchange, you will receive a set monthly retainer which you will have to pay NIC and tax on
Additional income arising will be retained by Contracta and will be paid to a Contractor Trust
You and your family may apply to the Trust for loans from time to time

Obviously the loans will never be repayed, or the whole scheme is pointless. So what's not disclosed is precisely why they think that this is a viable way of operating.

btw - giving away a substantial portion of your earnings to a third party over whom you have zero control seems to me to be a higher risk than attempting to exploit loopholes that the government is actively targetting.

btw 2 - I'm disinterested in this, since I don't pay tax in the UK anyway.

But mainly my post was because I find it rather disingenuous to invoke "the mods wouldn't like it", as a reason for non-disclosure.

At least you're honest on the website. "Disclaimer: It is possible that the Contracta Solutions structure may be challenged by HMRC in the future or retrospective legislation may be introduced."

[kettlehead]

Because you can't work through agencies as a self-employed person (sole trader).

no but you can set a use an intermediary company much like an umbrella, ebt, cbt or whatever else they wanna call themselves these days and provide your agency with limited company details, then have that company make payment gross to you (less their fee of course) and you do the rest ?? Is that not a safe option ?

[NotAllThere]

no but you can set a use an intermediary company much like an umbrella, ebt, cbt or whatever else they wanna call themselves these days and provide your agency with limited company details, then have that company make payment gross to you (less their fee of course) and you do the rest ?? Is that not a safe option ?

I don't know the answer to that. But I suspect it would have something to do with the intermediary company being in the UK, and therefore subject to some UK laws preventing such a model.

[geoff from contracta IOM]

Obviously the loans will never be repayed, or the whole scheme is pointless. So what's not disclosed is precisely why they think that this is a viable way of operating.

btw - giving away a substantial portion of your earnings to a third party over whom you have zero control seems to me to be a higher risk than attempting to exploit loopholes that the government is actively targetting.

btw 2 - I'm disinterested in this, since I don't pay tax in the UK anyway.

But mainly my post was because I find it rather disingenuous to invoke "the mods wouldn't like it", as a reason for non-disclosure.

At least you're honest on the website. "Disclaimer: It is possible that the Contracta Solutions structure may be challenged by HMRC in the future or retrospective legislation may be introduced."

We are always honest with potential clients the problem is some in our industry aren't and as I said earlier this isn't a forum for promoting one product or another or one provider or another but posters over a long period of time have been accusing certain types of scheme providers of many things when they have a vested interest hence why vallah and I, even as competitors of each other have decided to respond. Nobody is being encouraged to look at one particular option merely to closely examine all the options
BTW through a number of companies in the group we provide various options to contractors and try to direct them to the one that best suits their needs ( including a standard umbrella or Myco )

[malvolio]

That's about the same level of understanding typically displayed by Lisa.

Well, yes, guilty as charged. 16 years a freelance and 11 years close study of how the contractor world works and all the underlying legislative changes over the years with a few dozen published articles and I have no idea about anything.

Isn't the first rule of selling to understand your potential client?

[kettlehead]

why does this take ages for your posts to appear ?

[kettlehead]

Because you can't work through agencies as a self-employed person (sole trader).

surely you can still set up a limited company structure so the agency pay the limited company and that company pays you as self employed ??