First contract, direct with client

[pr1]

It's a £100 and that's not what you'll get in your pocket

maybe to you it is

[northernladuk]

Firstly, thank you all for the replies!!! Very helpful. Seems like IPSE and QDOS are very much what I want.

IPSE+ is a no brainer. PI/PL and contract checks via QDOS is up to you but used by a lot of us.

Ahh that's exactly what I was looking for. I'll check them out thank you. Yeah I've been reading a lot around IR35, I'm going to double check everything with my accountant (when I get one) but I think* I'm mostly ok.

Just be careful. Your accountant does your finances. They aren't specialist in contract law or your working practices etc. I'd go to the specialists to be completely OK (or as much as you can be with IR35).

Thanks for that. Yeah I know I get to dictate the terms but I was wondering what was generally 'standard' as it were or for some examples.

I'm surprised you haven't been told to go for 7 days. The idea is to reduce your exposure as much as possible. 30 days is pretty common but plenty of clients pay per week. If the client is big enough I'd be happy to negotiate but no more than 30.
[quote]

Spoon-feeding would be nice But more specifically I was referring to the direct contract guide on the site which suggest the PCGroup but their contracts page just 404s.

PCG is now IPSE. Although you no longer have the links you should be able to find the same information on the IPSE pages.

[northernladyuk]

maybe to you it is

He introduced PC, and they adjusted their rate accordingly.

[WordIsBond]

Yep, been reading loads about it, definitely outside. To summarise (I haven't had this confirmed with an accountant yet so please go easy!):

If you've been reading about it, you may know more about it than your accountant. Going direct probably decreases the likelihood of an investigation, and few are investigated anyway, but keep your eyes open, and keep a dossier of anything that says "independent" or "not subject to control".

Good luck.

[northernladuk]

He introduced PC, and they adjusted their rate accordingly.

Indeed. I've sent my apology in writing but I haven't paid them all the money they wanted back yet.

[tomtomagain]

This is exactly what I was looking for. So, say invoices are submitted on the 1st for the previous calendar month. Perfect. Thanks!

Yep, sticking to 30 days. That's reasonable, any more and they can shove it.

Just thought I'd mention this, although you might have already figured it.

You will be invoicing on the first day of the month for the previous month and then being paid (hopefully) at the end of that month. So you'll need to go around 60 days without receiving payment.
I.e. You bill for May in June and receive it 1st July ( or potentially end of June ). Bill June in July and get paid September.

Also, when you do submit an invoice, double-check that they actually get it and ask them directly if there is anything wrong with it that will prevent payment ( plenty of companies just won't tell you that there is something "wrong" with it until you've missed the payment run ( for example, missing a PO reference off it or having the wrong legal entity on the invoice ).

Once you get the first one through the rest should be plain sailing.

[Qdos Contractor]

Hey all

Ok so I've taken the plunge and started contracting, yay! Got my first contract, but it's direct with the client which is making it extra complicated. I've had a look around but still a little confused and I'm hoping for some advise.

1. Contract. I have to supply it. I've read a few posts about it but for the templates they suggest the pages don't exist any more. Can anyone recommend one?

- A few posts suggest getting it checked for IR35 compliance, can anyone recommend someone to do the checking (is this defo required)?

2. Invoicing. Do I invoice weekly? Monthly from when I started? Calendar month? I'm assuming I don't need to get a timesheet signed off or anything, isn't that just for the agency?

3. Payment terms. I'm going to stick 30 (15?) days in and see what they say, is this the right approach?

4. From what I can gather Nixon Williams are crap now, can anyone recommend an accountant with contractor experience? I read through the second half of the sticky but it's mostly complaining.

Sorry for the simple questions, I've read a lot but most of the guides cover this in broad strokes and don't give any examples or recommendations!

Thanks

Hi Talisman

Here is the link to the contract templates everyone has been mentioning: https://www.qdoscontractor.com/ir35/...ract-templates We updated them just last week to reflect GDPR as well

Do make sure you read through the terms though and check that they will accurately reflect how you will be working with your client.

Happy contracting
- Gemma