Contract Review

[Hex]

I want to get my contract reviewed for IR35. After searching the site I've found reference to the following review services.

• Accountax: www.accountax-ltd.com
• Bauer & Cottrell: www.bauerandcottrell.co.uk
• Egos: www.egos.co.uk
• Lawspeed: www.lawspeed.com

Has anyone used any of these and does anyone have any comments?

[Cowboy Bob]

I want to get my contract reviewed for IR35. After searching the site I've found reference to the following review services.

• Accountax: www.accountax-ltd.com
• Bauer & Cottrell: www.bauerandcottrell.co.uk
• Egos: www.egos.co.uk
• Lawspeed: www.lawspeed.com

Has anyone used any of these and does anyone have any comments?

Bauer & Cottrell tend to be the recommended people for this kind of thing. The others in your list are all excellent at what they do, but they're not all contract law specialists like B&C.

[thunderlizard]

I've used SJD. Never been investigated so I can't ultimately say how good it was; but they were very quick and easy to deal with.

[Mailman]

Why waste your time? Regardless whether these gimps say your contract is in our outside the regs if IR comes they are gonna come for you and no amount of "accountants telling you your IR35 safe" is going to dissuade them from bending you over an apple cart.

Mailman

[Denny]

Ask yourself these questions:

Do you already know what your working conditions are going to be on site?

Would you know, based on what they've tended to be in the past on similar roles?

How can a contract lawyer advise you on something you have yet to know?

Even if your contract wording was entirely outside IR35 with all the right clauses, it's going to mean damn all if your working conditions don't reflect the reality of the situation.

Save your money, would be my advice. If you're in doubt about your working conditions then comply with iR35 to start with and claim it back at the year end if your contract has ended if you are eventually deemed to have been outside. All your efforts should be geared toward manouvering yourself to work outside the regs once you're on site. That way, you can't really go wrong can you.

You certainly can if you throw money down the drain for nothing and do sod all about your contract terms whilst complying with IR35 pseudo employee working conditions.

[VectraMan]

What do these people actually do for their money anyway? Assuming you're not an idiot, can look for the particular points we all know about, and maybe even compare the wording to the PCG template contracts, then is there really any benefit to paying somebody else?

[Cowboy Bob]

What do these people actually do for their money anyway? Assuming you're not an idiot, can look for the particular points we all know about, and maybe even compare the wording to the PCG template contracts, then is there really any benefit to paying somebody else?

Well Bauer & Cottrell actually negotiate the contract on your behalf, they don't just check it over for you. As for whether its worth it, obviously to be IR35 safe you need to have compliant working conditions AND a compliant contract.

The thing with getting a compliant contract is that a lot of agents "just don't get it" and will refuse to believe that the contractor knows more than them. However, faced with a pack of lawyers, they suddenly become more amenable. So if you have a contract that you'd quite like to do, but the agent won't budge, then getting a third party in can often swing it.

YMMV of course.

[IT contract agent]

Why waste your time? Regardless whether these gimps say your contract is in our outside the regs if IR comes they are gonna come for you and no amount of "accountants telling you your IR35 safe" is going to dissuade them from bending you over an apple cart.

Mailman

I understand there are companies that after checking through a contract for you will give you insurance against any IR investigation and any subsequent request for your dosh. You pay for them to check your contract and that’s it as I understand.

[malvolio]

Or you join the PCG and get proper unconditional insurance for all your contracts as part of the membership fee...

[VectraMan]

Or you join the PCG and get proper unconditional insurance for all your contracts as part of the membership fee...

Only the cost of defending you though, not the actual dosh if you lose. That's what you really want from one of these experts.