Dodgy Schemes - War Stories

[centurian]

I don't think that Lisa needs to scaremonger. She doesn't scare people out of going Ltd if that's what they want.

And she asked permission before posting this thread.

I never said she was scaremongering - just that she had to deal with accusations of scaremongering - an observation promptly evidenced by subsequent posts

[TykeMerc]

...and to be brutally honest - if we can keep another victim away from the current raft of dodgy schemes then it's a pretty worthwhile exercise.

Too true.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

She may not scaremonger but the only reason she posts on here is to attract business

It's a not unreasonable assumption but no, it's not the only reason. I have had many years experience of what HMRC can do to people once they get their claws in and it's not something I'd wish on anybody - if you have been affected by this latest raft of legislation don't you wish that there had been someone to warn you about the scheme before you signed up?

[ChimpMaster]

Looks like HMRC are printing money... and their own version of the stories.

HMRC crackdown yields record £23.9bn in additional tax:

BBC News - HMRC crackdown yields record £23.9bn in additional tax

[TheFaQQer]

Looks like HMRC are printing money... and their own version of the stories.

HMRC crackdown yields record £23.9bn in additional tax:

BBC News - HMRC crackdown yields record £23.9bn in additional tax

As Private Eye points out in the current edition, about £10bn of that is complete fantasy money - it's the amount of tax that HMRC estimate people have paid up because they are scared that they might get caught. Since there is no basis in fact for that figure, it just helps Osborne look better than he is.

[kal]

It's a not unreasonable assumption but no, it's not the only reason. I have had many years experience of what HMRC can do to people once they get their claws in and it's not something I'd wish on anybody - if you have been affected by this latest raft of legislation don't you wish that there had been someone to warn you about the scheme before you signed up?

+1, Its all too easy to be taken in by these dodgy schemes, especially as they market themselves as Umbrellas when In fact they are anything but. I myself was almost hooked when I went contracting and it was only because the agency would only deal with a set number of (legit) umbrellas which led me to go Ltd, a lucky escape, I don't consider myself foolish or naive but these snake oil salesmen can be very convincing to the uniformed contractor just starting out.

In fact there is post on my Facebook feed right now from BestPay offering 90% returns on earnings as a contactor, if you don't know better then you may well be taken in, after all its a Sponsored post on Facebook so must be legit right?