Crackdown on personal service companies could raise £400m in tax

[ShandyDrinker]

Guys, I am very sorry about that smiley. I should probably have made it clear what i meant there.

Those smileys are smiling i agree, but i made them that entirely in the sense of "annoyed and amused".
I am annoyed that no one from other industries that are being damaged are voicing anything on this, excepting contractors - which includes me!
I smiled in that sense, not at the fate of what is about to happen with this new law change.

It sounds as though this law change is to break down the tax dodging contractors, and has no other intentions aside that. This is just not the case.
And given that others like the IPSE, agencies, QDOS members, etc not voicing on this, makes the feeling that its just the contractor's tax problem!
Hence i felt annoyed and amused, since that is not the real picture.
Sorry - i should have been clear about that!
I am one among the damaged too, and I am clearly not celebrating at all.

Others such as IPSE, QDOS, accountancy bodies (e.g. ICAEW) and so on have been responding to this; they just haven't been advertising the fact on contractor forums. If you do some background research, you'll see that many organisations/bodies have responded. Rather than taking on board what has been said in the responses, my belief is that it has strengthened their (HMRC/Treasury/Tories) resolve that we're all tax dodgers anyway hence the articles in the Guardian and Mail this weekend and the announcement of pushing 90% onto the payroll.

Although I don't agree with political protest parties, if there was a realistic alternative to the Tories/Labour which is prepared to back contractors and the flexible workforce in next election (I know... it's a long way off yet), I'd be happy to vote for them.

[AtW]

Any chance companies such as HSBC might take this as another reason to leave the UK?

No, it's the opposite - they'll be getting cheaper workforce that can be sacked as easily

[AtW]

Always fancied living somewhere warm, perhaps its time to hang up the contracting gloves and take a perm job in the sun.

Security guard in Egypt, you may still need to keep those gloves on though ...

[AtW]

It would force thousands of people in perm work massivley reducing the temp workforce, forcing companys to go throug massive body shops like Accenture and pay for overpriced crap.

Nice part of that overprice goes into donations to political parties...

[AtW]

9. Tories themselves , since come 2020 they will be OUT (certainly i will not vote for them [and neither my family and extended family and my friends and relatives], for their backstabbing)

+100

No way I will vote for Gideon or Tories in general ever again even if the other choice will be the Price of Darkness himself.

[AtW]

Although I don't agree with political protest parties, if there was a realistic alternative to the Tories/Labour which is prepared to back contractors and the flexible workforce in next election (I know... it's a long way off yet), I'd be happy to vote for them.

Allowing to call yourself as flexible workforce only invites Gideons to bend you over...

[ShandyDrinker]

Allowing to call yourself as flexible workforce only invites Gideons to bend you over...

True. Whether flexible, specialist or whatever terminology you want to use, Gideon is going to bend you over. Unless of course you are a contributing handsomely to the Tory coffers, be the beneficiary of a family trust fund, be a member of the old boys network and so on!

[ASB]

+100

No way I will vote for Gideon or Tories in general ever again even if the other choice will be the Price of Darkness himself.

I hadn't heard Peter Mandelson was making another comeback.

[stek]

Is it me or is everyone knee-jerking about an article in the Grauniad about something that might happen or might not?

[NotAllThere]

Is it me or is everyone knee-jerking about an article in the Grauniad about something that might happen or might not?

It's not just you. I think there's a lot of FUD being spread around.