I have been away from the game for a while. Is QDOS still worth it?

[MyUserName]

When I was contracting a few years ago they were a no brainer but I know there have been a load of changes back and forth with the IR35 rules. Are QDOS still the major players or have things changed there?

My client (if this goes ahead) will be in the Netherlands (weirdly, a different Netherlands based client to the one I posted about a few months ago), in case that makes a difference to anything.

[Lance]

for what?
They do various products. They sell insurance. If you need insurance then they may well be the supplier for you.
What insurance product do you have in mind?

[MyUserName]

IR35 insurance

[jamesbrown]

IR35 insurance

IR35 insurance was never worth it and remains not worth it for contracts that fall under Chapter 8. The chance of hitting that "sweet spot" where your contract is determined inside IR35 after exhausting all avenues of appeal and yet has a reasonable prospect of success at the start of that process (as required by the T&Cs for any payout) is next to zero.

[Lance]

IR35 insurance

only worth having if you are working inside but paying tax as outside.

It's a small part of the industry where clients are <£1M; and there aren't enough contractors for HMRC to chase IMO.
Anyway, for a small client, you should be able to actually be genuinely outside.

[jamesbrown]

only worth having if you are working inside but paying tax as outside.

That isn't going to work. Read the T&Cs, noting the requirement for a "reasonable prospect of success" at the outset. If there's a reasonable prospect of success, then you're almost certainly outside in reality too.

[ladymuck]

If the client is in the Netherlands and doesn't have any UK based entities then IR35 doesn't really factor in anyway.

[jamesbrown]

If the client is in the Netherlands and doesn't have any UK based entities then IR35 doesn't really factor in anyway.

Well, it’s under Chapter 8, the same as IR35 for the majority of its history, so YourCo is responsible and liable.

[PerfectStorm]

Edit: was talking about IPSE and not QDOS

[pr1]

I've had it, and used it for 3 things

1) I and my company were investigated to check that everything was above board. It was, I'd done nothing wrong, but it still took about 9 months and IPSE's lawyers were able to answer all questions as well as have the confidence to tell HMRC "You can't ask that" on a few occasions. I was glad to have it
2) When a couple clients wanted to move from Outside to in, they helped suggest contractual changes to make them still retain some useful 'outside' features, as well as suggest ways of limiting impact on prior work
3) I buy my shopping and hotel bookings with their vouchers which helps offset the price. It's the only way I know of getting money off Airbnb, for instance.

The cost per year ends up being a small fraction of a day rate when all of the above are taken into account.

That's a very useful summary of a company the OP wasn't asking about