Moving to the UK - Contracting Advice

[OZSimon]

Hi Everyone,

I've been searching the forums here @ CUK, along with info on a couple of other sites to get a feel for the best approach to moving and contracting in the UK. I must say there is plenty of good info here at CUK with good insight into how things operate in the UK IT industry.

I have a couple of questions and I apologise if they have been asked before..

My Background:

• Australian/British dual national living in Australia, never lived or worked in the UK
• 10 years IT experience in a number of Infrastructure fields, both in the Public and Private sectors.
• Currently fulltime employed as a 3rd line/Systems Administrator team leader for a Government Dept.
• Quals/Certs: Masters in Management, Masters in Systems Administration, MS MCSE, SNIA SCSE, VMware VCP, Citrix CCA, Juniper JNCIS, Cisco CCNA, ITIL Foundation.
• Experiance in a wide range of systems and infrustructure which I wont go into detail.

My Plan:

• Move to the UK around June/July this year
• Initially planning on staying 6 months, though 2+ years would not be out of the question.
• Manchester or Leeds is the preference to setup camp, though obviously majority of the work and money is in and around London which may change this preference.
• Setup a bank account, SIM, and Call Card through 1stContact or similar.
• Engage a good UK accountant, setup a LTD, and do the wage/dividend system of contracting.
• Have fun, travel, drink beer, and meet people .

My Questions:

• Is there still a benifit in setting up an LTD in the UK only to have to pay tax back in Australia within first 2 years?
• Given my broad set of skills and experience, should I be trying to focus my skills and training over the next 6 months in specific areas, or focus more on Project/Business management/team leader skills where broader experience and knowledge is required?
• Should London be my first port of call for contract work given the higher number of on offer?
• Should I accept any 1st line contracts on low rates just to get my first UK contract?
• Do UK employers/agents generally look for experience in contracting over experience in the field/technology?
• Can someone point me in the direction of a good CV template to use when applying for contracts and any interview techniques that may help out..

Any help and advise would be greatly appreciated..

Regards
OZSimon

[Troll]

The UK is currently full and the traditional Aus roles have now been taken by the Polish bar tenders.

HTH

[oracleslave]

My Questions:

• Is there still a benifit in setting up an LTD in the UK only to have to pay tax back in Australia within first 2 years?
• Given my broad set of skills and experience, should I be trying to focus my skills and training over the next 6 months in specific areas, or focus more on Project/Business management/team leader skills where broader experience and knowledge is required?
• Should London be my first port of call for contract work given the higher number of on offer?
• Should I accept any 1st line contracts on low rates just to get my first UK contract?
• Do UK employers/agents generally look for experience in contracting over experience in the field/technology?
• Can someone point me in the direction of a good CV template to use when applying for contracts and any interview techniques that may help out..

1) Yes there is benefit in setting up a LTD. What Tax are you referring to that will have to be paid in Aus?

2) Depends really on what type of work you want to be doing. Where does jobserve say the demand is for the skills you have?

3) Again I would look on job websites and determine where the work is for your skills. Obviously it will help if you are as flexinble with regards to locations as possible.

4) Depends on your position really. Can you afford to be choosy? Do you have a nest egg that you can rely on until you land something tasty?

5) Probably a combination of both imo.

6) Try google for cv template. I can't help with interview techniques as I always think I ace interviews but I certainly don't get offered every gig.

Good Luck

[BrowneIssue]

You missed out the traditional:

• clear off back to Oz as soon as the tax people start getting serious about wanting some money.

[beaker]

Just to answer 1) more completely if you are still a tax resident in Australia, which you will until you have been out of the country for 2 years, then you will pay tax on any o/s dividends at your highest marginal rate based on your Oz and UK earnings.

This negates the advantage of taking UK dividends so it's better to take only a PAYE salary (which you can do from your own company) or through an umbrella company. You might be better of if you wound down your company after 2 years and took all the profits then, but again speak to an Aussie accountant and UK accountant about this. You'd also need to work out how much you could afford to leave in the company and not take out to pay for living expenses...

[Captain Kangaroo]

Dividends - eeek!

[QUOTE=beaker;421580]Just to answer 1) more completely if you are still a tax resident in Australia, which you will until you have been out of the country for 2 years, then you will pay tax on any o/s dividends at your highest marginal rate based on your Oz and UK earnings.

...where did you find out about this? Needless to say taking dosh via dividends for a year or 2 was my Grand Plan...

[beaker]

[QUOTE=Captain Kangaroo;421605]

Just to answer 1) more completely if you are still a tax resident in Australia, which you will until you have been out of the country for 2 years, then you will pay tax on any o/s dividends at your highest marginal rate based on your Oz and UK earnings.

...where did you find out about this? Needless to say taking dosh via dividends for a year or 2 was my Grand Plan...

My Aussie accountant told me. You can also find reference to it on the ATO site. You still need to file Australian tax returns for 2 years after you leave. As I mentioned before you might be able to leave all the money in the company and only pay yourself a small salary for 2 years and then wind the company down. You will then need to pay CGT in the UK, but I don't know if you would need to pay it in Australia. I suspect not, but its worth looking into.

[DodgyAgent]

If you are thinking of coming to work in the UK there are a few ground rules you need to understand:

1. Learn to deal with defeat of your rugby team
2. Learn to be magnanimous in victory with regards to your cricket team
3. Learn to give way to the Polish as they let us beat them at cricket
4. If you wake up to the sound of being called to prayer you are not in Tehran
5. You will get fat as there is very little sport played in this country
6. And all agents here are honest

[Dow Jones]

Catch me if you can!

Aussies (and Kiwis - to a lesser extend) never paid any tax when contracting in the UK. I'd like to see anyone applying to set up a Ltd. Co now. Most agencies also know that and insist on them signing on to Umbrellas so they are not themselves liable for tax. You are probably 5 years too late for tax-dodging.