Why we MUST ditch our lazy attitude to finding work through agents and agencies

[Bacchus]

For me most contracts involve travelling and staying over mon-fri as unfortunately Wales is not flush with contract positions so I've spent most of my time working down and around near London, to be fair mind those living around London also pay a huge amount in travel but on the whole I spend more as I'm away from home. Being unable to claim T&S would put a stop to me doing this and only a surge in the number of contracts in Wales or Bristol would allow me to keep on contracting.

Or moving to where the work is?

This has always been the bedrock of the two year rule, surely?

I'm going to take a slightly controversial view here, if eighty percent of the work is in London then why should the taxpayer subsidise us choosing to live in a cheaper area to have a bigger house?

I will be hit by the changes as much as anyone, I have been contracting for nearly twenty years and it has never been so unappealling, but the country is still in a financial pickle (thanks Tony, thanks Gordon) and the people who have to pay to get it out are the ones capable of turning a buck, so we are being targetted. No point in targetting the poor...

[The Spartan]

IMO you are missing the point.

To HMRC we are all tax avoiders. Soon the only thing we will be left with is dividends over salary. And that gap is narrowing.

The issue is that tax avoidance is legal. HMRC do not recognize that.

That's right we're easy pickings compared to big businesses and self-employed tradespeople

[BrilloPad]

Or moving to where the work is?

This has always been the bedrock of the two year rule, surely?

I'm going to take a slightly controversial view here, if eighty percent of the work is in London then why should the taxpayer subsidise us choosing to live in a cheaper area to have a bigger house?

I will be hit by the changes as much as anyone, I have been contracting for nearly twenty years and it has never been so unappealling, but the country is still in a financial pickle (thanks Tony, thanks Gordon) and the people who have to pay to get it out are the ones capable of turning a buck, so we are being targetted. No point in targetting the poor...

Then why stay in the UK? Move abroad.

This country is a sh1te hole anyway.

[BrilloPad]

That's right we're easy pickings compared to big businesses and self-employed tradespeople

True true. And to add to that there are quite a lot of us.

When I first started there were about 20,000 contractors in the UK.

[SueEllen]

That's right we're easy pickings compared to big businesses and self-employed tradespeople

They go after self-employed tradespeople differently.

[The Spartan]

I'm going to take a slightly controversial view here, if eighty percent of the work is in London then why should the taxpayer subsidise us choosing to live in a cheaper area to have a bigger house?

Because we have specialist skills that they're not able to find elsewhere would be one reason I would say, another would be the fact I pay a lot more in tax now than I would pay if I were in permanent employment.

[Gumbo Robot]

Or moving to where the work is?

I can think of 3 friends of mine who live in London and are yet commuting to get to a contract. One's travelling to Newbury everyday, another Folkestone on a Mon - Fri and the other one Basingstoke.

And they haven't taken these roles over anything they've been offered in London either.

It's not quite as simple as moving to where the work is.

[The Spartan]

They go after self-employed tradespeople differently.

Really? I hadn't noticed honestly (no sarcasm intended)

Quite a few of my neighbours are tradespeople and my brothers too and they're always doing jobs where they get cash, so they have a substantial amount of undeclared income. They even work most weekends as they have that much work on, perhaps thinking about I should retrain so I can get a slice of the action no tax, no NI sounds great.

[Bacchus]

Then why stay in the UK? Move abroad.

This country is a sh1te hole anyway.

Or this.

Nobody puts a gun to our heads and tells us to live/work anywhere or to take a contract miles from home; it's a free choice.

HMRC and Govt. make the rules. If we can exist happily within them, then we do, otherwise do something else. Contractors, by their nature, are generally enterprising people, yes?

(I do think it will result in severe labour shortages and "Bobbification" though )

[The Spartan]

Then why stay in the UK? Move abroad.

This country is a sh1te hole anyway.

It is but it's home and the wife is close to her family, I lived and worked in Switzerland for 15 months before without my family being there it was a lonely period in my life