Agency or direct ?

[Phoenix]

You can work through my Ltd. for £14.99 per hour (with excellent payment terms on production of a signed timesheet in triplicate)



EternalNomad in "acting like a highly competitive Ltd company" mode

You can have it through me for £14.95 per hour (We accept only duplicate Timesheets) And payment will be received by you, no more than 3 weeks after receipt of your weekly timesheet...


Phoenix in slightly more competitive mode than EternalNomad Ltd

[malvolio]

prefer to work direct if I can, but depsite what malvolio implies it is possible to stay outside IR35 even with an agent in the way.

I didn' say that, nor did I mean to imply it. Outside the really bottom layer work where you're basically told what to do, IR35 is for people who either can't be bothered to think or can't be bothered to learn.

Whether there's an agency in the chain is irrelevant - since the OP has effectively a B2B arrangement and the agent is only acting as an invoicng convenience (nd I hope he's on no more than 4% for that), there's no way he will be inside IR35. The rest of us have to be a bit more careful.

[Newby]

I just dont get it?

This might be a bit volatile for a first post, but the only reason why you wouldn't run a limited company in this instance is pure and utter lazyness. You are just throwing money down the drain. If you cannot be bothered then get someone else to do the running for you. There are lots of people that can do that for you! Some of us that are caught by IR35 are so jealous of you having that business situation. You should definitely take advantage while you can. If you do have to go through an agency make sure that they dont sting you or your customer for 10% payroll. It does happen.

[DodgyAgent]

This might be a bit volatile for a first post, but the only reason why you wouldn't run a limited company in this instance is pure and utter lazyness. You are just throwing money down the drain. If you cannot be bothered then get someone else to do the running for you. There are lots of people that can do that for you! Some of us that are caught by IR35 are so jealous of you having that business situation. You should definitely take advantage while you can. If you do have to go through an agency make sure that they dont sting you or your customer for 10% payroll. It does happen.

If the customer is happy about paying an agency and the contractor prefers to deal with an agency then why on earth not? If the client wants to pay the agency 10% it really isnt any of your business.

[DimPrawn]

Jake.

STOP!!!!

email [email protected]

He will set you up a ltd company, help you get setup and open a business account and maximise your take home pay.

DON'T THROW GOOD MONEY DOWN THE PAN

GO LTD!!!

[eternalnomad]

Jake.

STOP!!!!

email [email protected]

He will set you up a ltd company, help you get setup and open a business account and maximise your take home pay.

DON'T THROW GOOD MONEY DOWN THE PAN

GO LTD!!!

I concur with DumPrawn's advice - I also use Darren as my accountant and I highly recommend him (even if he is a geordie)

[Mordac]

I concur with DumPrawn's advice - I also use Darren as my accountant and I highly recommend him (even if he is a geordie)

I'm using Darren as well. There you go, that's 3 recommendations. And we're not even on commission. (Must do something about that )
Anyway, don't be a wally. Go limited.

[Jakes Daddy]

Guys, guys; I really appreciate the advice; and given that you are all saying the same thing it seems hard to ignore.
However, all you know about my prospective contract is that I am negotiating direct - how can you be so sure it will be / can be made to be IR35 safe ?? Presumably going direct is not the only IR35 factor; if it were I would imagine that agencies would have a hard time making a living ?

And as to using a brolly - this is my first contract. The idea of contacting has been nagging at the back of my mind for over 5 years now, and its time to bite the bullet and give it a go before I go insane. I thought that for the first 6-12 months, using a brolly woulod be a good idea, as if this does not work out for me for whatever reason, I can just walk away from it; rather than having to had to create a Ltd with all the associated paperwork, choosing accountants etc etc, and then having to disolve it etc.
I know its a faily negative view, but thats the way I see it at the moment ..... convince me otherwise ....

[Mordac]

Guys, guys; I really appreciate the advice; and given that you are all saying the same thing it seems hard to ignore.
However, all you know about my prospective contract is that I am negotiating direct - how can you be so sure it will be / can be made to be IR35 safe ?? Presumably going direct is not the only IR35 factor; if it were I would imagine that agencies would have a hard time making a living ?

And as to using a brolly - this is my first contract. The idea of contacting has been nagging at the back of my mind for over 5 years now, and its time to bite the bullet and give it a go before I go insane. I thought that for the first 6-12 months, using a brolly woulod be a good idea, as if this does not work out for me for whatever reason, I can just walk away from it; rather than having to had to create a Ltd with all the associated paperwork, choosing accountants etc etc, and then having to disolve it etc.
I know its a faily negative view, but thats the way I see it at the moment ..... convince me otherwise ....

Go to http://calculator.contractoruk.com/ and see what the difference is. Then subtract about 3% ish for brolly fees.
Then imagine that amount of money in your hand. Then imagine setting fire to it. At wildish guess you'll be losing between 20-25% annually to Gordon and the brolly. Your choice, of course.
The point about avoiding the agency (and it's not the route I'd choose, personally, but then I have an agency who I trust and also do additional private work for, so I'm probably in a better position than many) is that you are able to insert the necessary clauses in the contract (substitution etc) and more importantly, there is no agency-client contract in the mix. This can often cause problems because we never get to see that contract.
I appreciate it's your first contract, but setting up and running a ltd company really isn't that difficult. Why pay a brolly (who add no value whatsoever) when you can pay an accountant a similar amount and he looks after everything for you?

[hyperD]

Presumably going direct is not the only IR35 factor; if it were I would imagine that agencies would have a hard time making a living ?

Going direct gives you the opportunity to try and ensure your contract doesn't fall under any IR35 pointers, that's all. It may mean that you are able to have someone like Accountax write the contract for you. You may even find the client is happy just by generating a standard supplier contract with a purchase order.

Your quote regarding agencies here is not correct: agencies exist because they are in the business of recruitment, factoring and finding leads - IR35 doesn't enter into it and simply is an annoying, voluntary tax targetted on personal service type companies.

(Sorry I'm not explaining myself well - I've got a splitting hangover this morning...)