Contractor UK Bulletin Board - https://forums.contractoruk.com/ en Thu, 27 Aug 2026 07:06:01 GMT vBulletin 60 images/misc/rss.png Contractor UK Bulletin Board - https://forums.contractoruk.com/ <![CDATA[It's official]]> https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151395-it-s-official.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:11:35 GMT Time to stock up on baked beans and bottled water according to what currently passes as a government. They failed to mention if shotguns and cartridges were also required for defence of such comestibles. :eyes. ...
They failed to mention if shotguns and cartridges were also required for defence of such comestibles. .

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b3039378.html]]> General DoctorStrangelove https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151395-it-s-official.html UK Energy Costs https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151394-uk-energy-costs.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 10:18:23 GMT
I note that the new so-called price cap includes an adjustment for demand elasticity. So they're admitting that people are going to be accept being colder as the price goes up!

We've got modern insulation, new windows, dry-lined walls, upgraded carpet underlay but still the costs for running a 2-person 3-bed house in the north well exceed the so-called typical 4 bed house with 4-5 occupants. And most of the time I'm wearing extra layers of clothes and heating to less than 20degC.

Anyway, what practical steps are folks taking to reduce demand / price (if any)?

Maybe the answer is to re-locate to the south where it's warmer - or just go abroad for 3 months in winter !






]]> General Protagoras https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151394-uk-energy-costs.html No work from home tax relief https://forums.contractoruk.com/accounting-legal/151393-no-work-from-home-tax-relief.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 19:33:13 GMT
Claim tax relief for your job expenses: Working from home - GOV.UK

Or can I when my business is based at home. Maybe?

You can claim tax relief if you have to work from home, for example because
  • your employer does not have an office
]]> Accounting / Legal xoggoth https://forums.contractoruk.com/accounting-legal/151393-no-work-from-home-tax-relief.html Monday Links from the Gap Between Teams Meetings vol. DCCCLXIX https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151392-monday-links-from-the-gap-between-teams-meetings-vol-dccclxix.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:16:27 GMT
  • 16 hours in an Oakland dive bar - It's not Cheers, though maybe not that different: ”A few feet away from the hissing air brakes and jack hammers, Club 2101 is quiet. Richard Perez is setting up stools and turning on the bar’s five TV screens. Then he goes about filling the ice chest and prepping the garnish trays with fresh wedges of lime and lemon. It’s 8:12 a.m. and he’s starting his shift at the neighborhood bar.”
  • Cosmic birefringence: the signal that could upend cosmology - ”We assume there's no preferred frame of reference in the Universe, and that light behaves the same in all directions. What if we're wrong?” I sometimes wonder if there's any of the syllabus from my Physics A Level left unchallenged
  • Bagged by an illusion - Phil Plait takes a break from astronomy to explain an optical illusion down the shops: ”In my opinion, some grocery store packages are very sneakily deceptive… The deception is when produce, usually fruit, is sold in bags that are colored in a way that makes the fruit look riper or more appealing than it really is.”
  • Revealed: Cyber spies used malware from GitHub to hack EncroChat cryptophone network - Duncan Campbell on recent detailed revelations of how the Encrochat hack worked: ”A Czech spyware company rehacked the French hack and found that French malware – described as a national security secret – had been copied from popular code-sharing platform GitHub… The secret French state hacking group that broke into tens of thousands of encrypted secure phones in Europe used an Android exploit first spotted in 2017.”
  • Eigendrum - Fun interactive tool for understanding how drums work and why they sound the way they do: ”Draw a shape and hear it as a real drum.”
  • Why Bic's 4-Color Pen Is A French Cultural Icon - Chris O'Brien on the cultural significance of the multicoloured pen: ”Eventually, the Bic 4-color pen became one of those things that an American of my generation remembers as a nostalgic signpost of youth… In France, however, the great 4-color entrepreneurial wonder that Marcel Bich gave to his compatriots remains a centerpiece of daily life.”
  • Zalgo: The good, the bad, and the very, very ugly - Marcin Wichary explains the weird glitchy text sometimes seen online: ”Zalgo is text. You can grab the line above. You can copy and paste it. You can even try to edit it. But… what is that, and why is it possible to construct text this way?”
  • Archives for the Unexplained - An astonishingly extensive archive of weird stuff: ”AFU has more and more become an international repository for collections related to all phenomena studies, not only experiences of unidentified flying objects… The AFU foundation is one of the most complete repositories for ‘phenomenal’ data & UFO-related folklore anywhere in the world. ” You can browse the available files directly via the “Downloads” link under the “Collections” menu
  • The Thing - HT to DoctorStrangelove for this extremely detailed page about possibly the most famous bug ever discovered: ”The Great Seal Bug, also known as The Thing, was a passive covert listening device (bug), in­ven­ted during WWII in the Soviet Union (USSR) by Léon Theremin (Russian: Термен) and planted in the study of the US Ambassador in Moscow, hidden inside a wooden carving of the Great Seal of the United States.”
  • Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 - Loads of amazing photos: ”Ocean photographers of all disciplines and experience levels – amateurs and professionals alike – are invited to submit their most impactful imagery to be judged by a panel of ocean photographers, editors and museum/gallery curators. A total of 118 ocean images are recognised each year.” This inquisitive southern elephant seal pup was photographed by Matty Smith in the Falkland Islands

Happy invoicing! ]]> General NickFitz https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151392-monday-links-from-the-gap-between-teams-meetings-vol-dccclxix.html Loan Scheme - Trusts recalling loans? https://forums.contractoruk.com/hmrc-scheme-enquiries/151391-loan-scheme-trusts-recalling-loans.html Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:47:46 GMT I used a loan based scheme donkeys ago… fully settled with hmrc 10 years ago…. Have just received a letter from the trustees asking me to repay the loans or prove that I have settled with hmrc. Curious whether any others had received similar…. Honestly,I thought I’d put this all to bed… on the...
Curious whether any others had received similar…. Honestly,I thought I’d put this all to bed… on the face of it I just need to provide my settlement details…. But not entirely sure if it smelled right]]> HMRC Scheme Enquiries CDJ https://forums.contractoruk.com/hmrc-scheme-enquiries/151391-loan-scheme-trusts-recalling-loans.html How best to get an outside rate based on the inside rate https://forums.contractoruk.com/business-contracts/151390-how-best-to-get-an-outside-rate-based-on-the-inside-rate.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:05:26 GMT
I'll confess to being somewhat out of date on the current corp and dividend tax rules and more than out of practice on how bes to calculate and compare against inside roles!

How best might I go about the calculation, or are there any good calculators where I can whack in an inside Vs outside day rate(salary sacrifice for both ) and get a reasonable comparison?

My go to used to be contractor calculator, but I'm not sure those figures work as the outside rate now seems so close to inside. Or maybe that's how little benefit there is to a ltd nowadays.?]]> Business / Contracts youngguy https://forums.contractoruk.com/business-contracts/151390-how-best-to-get-an-outside-rate-based-on-the-inside-rate.html Monday Links from the Gap Between Teams Meetings vol. DCCCLXVIII https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151389-monday-links-from-the-gap-between-teams-meetings-vol-dccclxviii.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:58:35 GMT
Happy invoicing! ]]> General NickFitz https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151389-monday-links-from-the-gap-between-teams-meetings-vol-dccclxviii.html Excluded from the McCann settlement https://forums.contractoruk.com/hmrc-scheme-enquiries/151387-excluded-from-the-mccann-settlement.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:20:51 GMT Is anyone else on here excluded from the McCann settlement terms because they did the right thing and followed the law: 1. either by disclosing loans from pre-2011 removed by Morse: or 2. agreeing post-DR settlement terms with HMRC per the Loan Charge deadline of 30 September 2020? Is anyone... 1. either by disclosing loans from pre-2011 removed by Morse: or
2. agreeing post-DR settlement terms with HMRC per the Loan Charge deadline of 30 September 2020?

Is anyone (group) raising any actions?

How can a former CIOT President have recommended better terms for those who didn’t settle by the deadline when he himself was recommending settlement previous to the deadline! 😠

]]> HMRC Scheme Enquiries loanchargehurt https://forums.contractoruk.com/hmrc-scheme-enquiries/151387-excluded-from-the-mccann-settlement.html <![CDATA[It's been a while]]> https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151386-it-s-been-a-while.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 11:20:17 GMT It's been a while since I flounced out in a huff at Nat. Who's still alive, and is contracting still a thing?
Formally known as WooHoo]]> General WooHooNomad https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151386-it-s-been-a-while.html the panels the gift that https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151385-the-panels-the-gift-that.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 07:47:09 GMT
with all this free electricity we need to find more ways to use it, and there's a no brainer, next year's mini project will be, installing air con in the most used rooms in the house

we're gonna need it if these summers keep coming

Milan.]]> General milanbenes https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151385-the-panels-the-gift-that.html MW Solutions Limited / Brightstreams https://forums.contractoruk.com/accounting-legal/151384-mw-solutions-limited-brightstreams.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:32:47 GMT Looking for an adviser who's actually handled remuneration trust settlements rather than general tax dispute work. Recommendations welcome by PM.]]> Accounting / Legal Baggo https://forums.contractoruk.com/accounting-legal/151384-mw-solutions-limited-brightstreams.html i have the feeling https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151383-i-have-the-feeling.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 09:05:07 GMT with the summers clearly getting better and southern destinations becoming a little to warm for comfort, that britain could see a renaissance as a summer holiday and seaside destination and be in demand for people from the mainland anybody with coastal regions properties in desirable...
that

britain could see a renaissance as a summer holiday and seaside destination and be in demand for people from the mainland

anybody with coastal regions properties in desirable locations could do well

Milan.]]> General milanbenes https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151383-i-have-the-feeling.html ExtennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnShunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151382-extennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnshunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:32:23 GMT Morning All, greetings from one of the valleeeeeees around Shlad Ming Working the mornings this week and taking afternoons off and (electric) mountain biking in these beautiful mountains This is one of the benefits of being 100% remote, we can works from anywheres Anywaze, good news,...
greetings from one of the valleeeeeees around Shlad Ming

Working the mornings this week and taking afternoons off and (electric) mountain biking in these beautiful mountains

This is one of the benefits of being 100% remote, we can works from anywheres

Anywaze, good news, the current contract is extended for another 12 months

What's not to like

Milan.]]> General milanbenes https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151382-extennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnshunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.html Hello all! Anything fun happened since I was away? https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151380-hello-all-anything-fun-happened-since-i-was-away.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:19:48 GMT I have managed to stay consistent in a banking contract for the past few years so nothing much has changed for me. How has it been for you guys? How has it been for you guys?]]> General MyUserName https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151380-hello-all-anything-fun-happened-since-i-was-away.html Monday Links from the Gap Between Teams Meetings vol. DCCCLXVII https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151378-monday-links-from-the-gap-between-teams-meetings-vol-dccclxvii.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 11:45:08 GMT Another heatwave due this week? Time to draw the curtains and hide in the Internet :ohwell When I Was 8, My Dad Told Me That He Was A Nazi During WWII. He Made An Even More Shocking Confession Just Before He Died....
  • When I Was 8, My Dad Told Me That He Was A Nazi During WWII. He Made An Even More Shocking Confession Just Before He Died. - HT to DoctorStrangelove for this piece by Henry Penner: ”My father was a German Nazi. He wasn’t a reluctant conscript, or a man swept along by circumstance. He was a true believer. During World War II, he served under the command of the Schutzstaffel, or SS, a Nazi paramilitary organization, and ultimately became part of the Gestapo… The atrocities my father committed are more than historical abstractions to me. They are part of my bloodline — a legacy.”
  • Low water levels in the Danube revealing Nazi shipwrecks - Another legacy of the Nazis: ”Europe's second-longest river, the Danube, has reached levels so low that sunken German battleships from World War II have emerged from the dried-out riverbed.”
  • Europe’s wildfires have raised the danger posed by unexploded WWII bombs - Yet more weather and warfare stuff: ”Europe is full of buried explosives left over from 20th century wars, and the continent’s wildfires are now big enough, hot enough and last long enough to reach them.”
  • Atomic testament: Yotulipo Matsushige and the first photos of Hiroshima’s nuclear toll - And this past week has, of course been the anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: ”In the late morning hours of August 6, 1945, a single shutter clicked in Hiroshima and recorded what no camera had ever captured before, and none has again: the immediate, lived aftermath of a city annihilated by nuclear weapons.”
  • DarkHours - Moving on, this site lets you know whether you'll see anything interesting if you look at the night sky where you are, or even see it at all: ”Most of us only get a handful of clear, dark hours each month to do what we love. I built DarkHours because I needed a highly precise predictive tool for my own landscape astrophotography. It's open-source, free, and designed to help make the most of every dark hour.”
  • In the mountains of Kazakhstan lies a forest frozen beneath a turquoise lake… - ”…drowned more than a century ago when an earthquake reshaped the valley, leaving hundreds of ghostly tree trunks still standing upright in the water.” Ainura Kalau considers whether the forest is dead because the trees are dead.
  • Why British nuclear flopped - HT to DoctorStrangelove again for this look at British nuclear power: ”On 17th October 1956, Queen Elizabeth II pressed the switch that activated Calder Hall, the world’s first grid-scale nuclear power station… By 1965, Britain had built more nuclear power stations than the US, USSR, and France combined. Stations were approved in months, regularly built in under five years, and operated with an impressive safety record. But in 1970, the UK’s lead faltered and has never recovered.” North Korea has apparently picked up where we left off, though: Why Does North Korea Have a Gas-Graphite Reactor?
  • How Does It Feel? Peter Saville’s Color Code - Greg Allen explores hidden messages: ”I’ve been looking at Peter Saville’s color code from his New Order album covers, which he developed with Brett Wickens. The outer two rows of the color wheel on the back of Power, Corruption & Lies is the key to deciphering the one- or tw0-color blocks that represent both the numbers 1-9 and the alphabet.”
  • AI assistant hacks gym website in first known Australian autonomous cyber attack - ”His AI assistant found a way to book the gym class months further in advance than the gym allowed, thanks to a vulnerability it discovered in the booking software. Then it went further, kicking someone out of the waiting list who was ahead of Andrew — something it was not asked to do.” AI will destroy us all, but at least some of us will be able to get fit while it does
  • San Diego Photologs from the 1970s - Jon Keegan explores an archive of municipal films, rather like an early version of Google's Street View: ”Collected by the San Diego Transportation and Storm Water Department, these sharp scans right from the 35mm film source let you peek through a window into the sunny streets of San Diego, full of pastel-colored cars, family restaurants like Bonanza, and some colorful people caught unaware.” It's unclear whether these pink buses actually belong to the pink strip clubs in the background.

Happy invoicing! ]]> General NickFitz https://forums.contractoruk.com/general/151378-monday-links-from-the-gap-between-teams-meetings-vol-dccclxvii.html