HMRC Investigation - update.

[Vito]

It's a theory that works.

I draw divis quarterly...

And if you pay yourself £10k - £12K pa you can sleep soundly.

Others may disagree with this but it works for me...

I'm doing exactly this...however, I think you could flip this on its head if you wanted to...

Rather than ask yourself 'can you afford to live off your salary'...how about as Director, you ask yourself 'what salary can I guarantee to be able to pay?'...

For me, a salary should be a regular amount that stays the same every month...but there is no way that I can guarantee to be able to pay myself any more over the next twelve months than I currently have sat in my business account right now (approx. £12k)...so in terms of salary, that is what I am prepared to guarantee someone, who just happens in this case to be me.

And more importantly, all of this is a bit of a nonsense anyway...whilst the IR35 criteria is grey at best, there are guidelines as to what self-employed 'v' employed means...and this arguement is not included.

Gordo doesn't mind people taking full advantage of the current structure, otherwise it wouldn't be as it is...he would simply say that there must be at least two employees for a Limited Company to operate in terms of Divi's...

IR35 is not designed to stop contractors...there is a huge economic benefit to contractors, it means large corporates can keep down their headcount which the City tends to encourage, investors are happy and stocks and shares go up...

What Gordo does want to stop, is people that are sitting at the same desk for years on end and taking the piss....

This is my very humble opinion anyway...

[Captain Dispensable]

The 11k was (from what I understood) the amont of expenses claimed that the IR scum was saying were not valid, so expenses = tax demand.

Divvies are decided by your company supposedly having a board meeting to decide on how profit is to be distributed and filling in the necessary form. You can draw part divvies each month or as often as you like, it's only when you submit the accounts that it's all added up if your accountant then submits the supporting paperwork at that time. I've always drawn divvies as and when I need the extra cash and just add it all up at the year end. No probs so far at all and my accountant hasn't said jack about it being dodgy. You could even argue it was distribution of profits from a previous year. It's your company and as long as the meeting you have with yourself agrees on a dividend level that's realistic based on profit you can take it however you want!

PSCs are a tick box on one of the forms. Don't tick it and you're classed as a normal ltd rather than a PSC! Guess which draws more attention from the IR scum. If you really want to be sure you could in theory class your ltd as retail or something nothing to do with IT. Not saying you should, or if indeed that's what I've done.

[simondolan]

Monthly divvies? Thats a bit dodgy isn't it? Didn't SJD advise you to take them at less frequent intervals?

The frequency with which you draw dividends has absolutely no bearing on anything.

[EternalOptimist]

Every sympathy SA but your expenses for that one gig dwarf 15 years of my expenses. And I live in manchester and work in London

[SallyAnne]

Every sympathy SA but your expenses for that one gig dwarf 15 years of my expenses. And I live in manchester and work in London

Rented flat in Manchester = £1000 per month
Bill etc = £200 per month
I dont drive, and the only way to the retail park that I worked in was via taxi (£10 each way, daily) = £500 per month.
Train the Durham every week £70 = £350 per month
Taxi's from durham to home £20 per week = £100 month
Say £10 for food per day = £250 per month


= £2,400 per month.
= £28,800 per year.


getting investigated by HMRC, priceless!


To be fair, I probably could have shaved about £10k off that if I drove, but I dont. And I shouldn't have to - ffs thay keep monging on about how we should be using public transport and getting rid of our cars, and always use the train where you can..mong mong mong. but my time was money, so of course I always chose the fastest method available to me (taxi). And getting the the actual work site itself I had no other option.
if I was working for IBM or Accenture or somewhere like that, I'd have exactly the same expenses.




Anyway...SJD are helping me, so hopefully they're just trying on a fast one. But if they're trying to say that you cant claim expenses when working away, then contracting suddely becomes impossible for me, as there are very few jobs at home.

[EternalOptimist]

my current gig

petrol manchester to london - £450 a month
accomodation - £300 per month

how on earth can you claim food ??? dont you eat at home ?

£750 per month, but I claim about half this to stay under the radar

[lilelvis2000]

Yikes! Your monthly expenses are almost as much as my entire monthly revenue.

I've seen flats in M'str going for £400/mth for a decent place. What do you get for £1000!

[timh]

Rented flat in Manchester = £1000 per month
Bill etc = £200 per month

Bloody hell.. 1200 quid a month for accomodation in Manchester? That must have been a lovely flat!

When I was working in Manchester I ended up staying out in Glossop; had a nice time roaming the hills in the evenings - recommended.

But if they're trying to say that you cant claim expenses when working away, then contracting suddely becomes impossible for me, as there are very few jobs at home.

Likewise.. Best of luck, again!

[SallyAnne]

Yeah that flat was a bit over the top like, but I didn't know any of the outside area, so I got one in the city centre - and all theones I looked at were about that price. Didn't drive, and didn't want to be stuck out in the sticks as a young lass on her own.

This was for my first ever gig dont forget - it was about 4 years ago and I was very wet behind the ears. I wouldn't do any of that now.

But it still doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to claim for it. I wasn't taking the p*ss on purpose - I was just doing what I was advised I could!

As for food - evening meals, that's allowed. I had receipts for everything!!

oh, who's side are yous on

[timh]

petrol manchester to london - £450 a month
accomodation - £300 per month

Is that accomodation in London? How are you managing that?

how on earth can you claim food ??? dont you eat at home ?

If you stay away you can claim breakfast and an evening meal. You wouldn't be eating out expensively all the time if you were at home (probably). Personally I think that should extend to lunch (I make my lunch if I'm working from home - can't if I'm on site) but it doesn't.

£750 per month, but I claim about half this to stay under the radar

I don't think there's much point in claiming less than you spend. It's all peanuts compared to 'proper' corporate expenditure. My other half works for a large financial services firm and claims back her expenses from her employer - often that's well over a grand a week.