Contracting with weekly commute, does it pay?

[norrahe]

You can use your UK limited to contract in NL.

All the agencies over there seem to give you the cr@p that you have to use an umbrella.

I moved there a year ago so have some good contacts with accountancy firms that understand the tax rulings and what you can and cannot do with UK limited.

PM me if you want more details.

[NotAllThere]

I used to weekly commute. You get used to it. But not for £3000 a month. Last time I did it to the UK it was 3 times that. My first stint of weekly commuting - in 1995 - was for £4300 a month (ltd).

For the rate you've quoted - well, I suppose it's better than not working.

[bless 'em all]

It's McDonalds. You'll never even get an interview if you can't even get the company name correct.

Funny how this ties in nicely with your Contract to Perm discussions.

[NickFitz]

It's McDonalds. You'll never even get an interview if you can't even get the company name correct.

The voice of experience

[ChimpMaster]

What's your price for being away from home?

I wouldn't work away from home for less than 4 times the figure you're talking about, maybe 3 times if desparate, but that's because I've done a lot of it in the past - I was a permie consultant so on cr@p money too - but soon as I got married I had to leave that job. Now I can choose not to live away from home.

I wouldn't want to be away from my kids all week (the wife I could handle ), and seriously what's the point of working your life away from those you want to be with?

If you gotta go, you gotta go, and you're still a wage slave so use that role and it's income to grow out of the trap.

YOLO as the cool kids say these days.

[Ignis Fatuus]

What's your price for being away from home?

I wouldn't work away from home for less than 4 times the figure you're talking about, maybe 3 times if desparate, but that's because I've done a lot of it in the past - I was a permie consultant so on cr@p money too - but soon as I got married I had to leave that job. Now I can choose not to live away from home.

I wouldn't want to be away from my kids all week (the wife I could handle ), and seriously what's the point of working your life away from those you want to be with?

If you gotta go, you gotta go, and you're still a wage slave so use that role and it's income to grow out of the trap.

YOLO as the cool kids say these days.

I take your points, but my case is not as you describe. This is not a permie job, nor some sort of junior contract role that I can grow out of. It's about the rate for a senior developer.

The actual contract rate is 500 Euros per day. 3 or 4 times that is just not going to be on offer!

But when I do the arithmetic on 500 per day, i.e. 10k EUR/month, with NL 30% rule, NL tax, UK tax (with a credit for NL tax, but on the whole lot, not reduced by 30%), then take off £1600 per month for actual expenses (and that's keeping it low), it seems to leave about £3000.

Yes I feel like a wage slave, that's exactly the problem. How to get out of it, though? I suspect that the answer is not to work in the Netherlands, which is a shame.

[doodab]

You can't take a job like that on a weekly commute, you need to move i.e. rent a flat and get yourself non resident in the uk. I'd go for at least €600 as well.

[Ignis Fatuus]

You can't take a job like that on a weekly commute, you need to move i.e. rent a flat and get yourself non resident in the uk. I'd go for at least €600 as well.

Funny you should mention that, I did go for at least €600. €500 was what I got. I looked at the difference between that and €0 and picked what I think was the lesser of 2 evils.

I'm not moving, that would imply breaking up with my partner, and I think that's a bit strong as a way of reducing costs. Not to mention being the opposite of getting a life: giving up your life, love, and country for a job.