Budget 2009 - What does it mean for contractors?

[SantaClaus]

Looks like a big fat nothing in the budget for us contractors. Which has to be seen as good news

As always with New Liebour budgets I'll let you know when I read the smallprint.

The fact that Alistair Darling couldn't bury the 50% tax rise in the small print must mean there's something even worse waiting to be discovered

[AtW]

The fact that Alistair Darling couldn't bury the 50% tax rise in the small print must mean there's something even worse waiting to be discovered

He did not want to bury it, in fact he wanted it to stand out and he was successful at it - people now think of new tax on the rich rather than other taxes on them.

[whattodo]

When our darling chancellor said he would be stopping what he thinks is tax avoidance, what exactly was he referring to?

Google sending it's profits to Ireland? Contractors? Cash in hand jobs?

I'm willing to bet they spend £10 to squeeze £1 of new tax out of some poor sod or another, but such is the mentality of the government. It does make me worry, but then i'm a worrier!

[Cyberman]

I'm no economist but it seems to me that this government needs some common sense. If you tax people 50% of their income plus NI they will earn less than the Government get in taxes. Who would accept a job at those terms? And thats not the only common sense lacking.

I think it's a brilliant idea to tax those public sector fatcats !!!

[oraclesmith]

There is always a silver lining....

How about this for a plan B idea? Invest your company profits into buying up every pre-1999 old banger you can lay your hands on - and quickly before they all run out. With the £2k scrappage scheme, they'll surely be worth anything up to £1,500 each to a potential new car buyer....assuming there is anyone left who has the cash to buy a new car....

[AtW]

Yes and you'd have to own it for 1 year before benefitting from the scheme...

My guess is that now people will approach owners of bangers to pay them to sell their car for higher amount then they can fetch in exchange of owner buying that car in his name and them selling it on straight away.

[snaw]

Yes and you'd have to own it for 1 year before benefitting from the scheme...

My guess is that now people will approach owners of bangers to pay them to sell their car for higher amount then they can fetch in exchange of owner buying that car in his name and them selling it on straight away.

Wow, you really think so?

[Doggy Styles]

Was there anything in the budget for me? I'm a cheesemaker.

[AtW]

Wow, you really think so?

It's possible, depends how HMRC writes the rules, perhaps they'd require owner who buys new car with this discount to own new car for another year, but even that is not fool proof - £2k is not a lot of money, but it's bound to create a market for buy/sell banger schemes.

[motoukenin]

What the budget will do

List of post budget consequences:

1) Contractors using Umbrella Companies or similar "Loan" avoidance ideas will get bashed with the treasury baseball bat until every last penny falls out their pockets

2) Limited companies with one employer will get a letter inviting you to personal interviews with the intention of finding you IR35 compliant , any legal challange will be met by replacing previous fair minded judges of compliance cases with "Your guilty" rubber stamping admin staff.

3) Employers will be even more frightened to take on contractors with even more red tape from HMRC.

4) Not only will you have to deal with desperate drug infused junkies stabbing you for 10 quid in your wallet when you get on a bus (if you have 10 quid left) but your also going to have a similar experience from desperate and equaly dangerous tax officials (ok so they wont stab you but you might just see them putting your house up for sale and carting all your assets down to the local auction , similar effect) , thoes that "collect" the most money will be given incentives.

My advice is to lease everything and put all your money in a foriegn bank , that way if you do get "selected" then you can at least go abroad and start again.

Thought I would just tell it how it is , have a nice day.