The continuing nonsense of "Take Home Pay"

[l35kee]

Yeah, because if I have to go see a client for a day in Chicago or Frankfurt in January, or go into the City for a day, those expenses are all income. Or buy a new laptop.

Apart from the obvious*

Laptop expense is income**

[VelcroPower]

It really is.

How much corporation / income tax do you pay on this income?

[TonyF]

It really isn't.

Some might be and some might not be

Business mileage - not income
Christmas party to go out when you were going to do that anyway - income
Laptop that you need to buy to do the job - a bit of both

Simple

[TonyF]

I saw something yet again on LinkedIn today about "Take Homes" and how if you "go Limited you can retain up to 85% of your earnings". We all know it's cobblers, especially these days

It's not cobblers, it's perfectly possible. But it depends on the rate you earn, your age, your income from other sources and various other factors.

If you invoice £8k a year you can take home nearly 100% for example.

[l35kee]

How much corporation / income tax do you pay on this income?

That wasn't my point and you know it!

[WordIsBond]

Laptop expense is income**

Sorry, I don't need a laptop except for work.

[sal]

It was more the fact that the worst one is the FCSA accredited one that caught my attention. Audited by EY and all that.

The accountants are accredited and audited by EY etc. Not the calculators. Big difference.

The numbers provided by the calculators are only to entice you in using their services. I imagine that once you engage with them they will follow the tax code etc. to the letter.

With "income splitting" with a spouse you can end up paying about 15% tax in total on YourCo gross income even at around £400pd. That's not exactly the same as 85% "take home", but some people don't realise it.

[l35kee]

Sorry, I don't need a laptop except for work.

Good! Exceptions are useful to prove the rule.

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Doesn't help that he's asked the wrong companies as well.

They're absolute garbage but as you say, on sites to promote services. Some are that far out it borders on mis-selling

[VelcroPower]

They're absolute garbage but as you say, on sites to promote services. Some are that far out it borders on mis-selling

Again that's why the FCSA accreditation bugs me. The take home pay calcs are the shop window for the industry, those pages are the most heavily hit on the sites and yet the worst one is the one with the shiny badge.

When the FCSA are trying to say that the industry is being unfairly targeted by HMRC it's hard to take seriously when calculators seriously inflate how much money people can actually take home.