Taking a break - thoughts?

[Snooky]

Current client has given everyone assessments, except a few of us who said we were leaving at the end of Feb so didn't want/need one, and found them all inside IR35. So they're all switching to umbrella in April. I had my contract professionally assessed and deemed outside IR35 and have tried to keep my working practices on a B2B level as much as possible, so I don't accept their assessment but like most other clients they're just taking no chances. So I'm off at the end of Feb.

I've accepted that in my line of work and market, virtually every role after April will be perm or umbrella so I'm prepared to swallow the loss in net income for now and submit to full PAYE.

The client still wants me to work for them and would rather I didn't leave; so my current plan is to let the contract expire at the end of Feb, take a break and then see if they want to offer me another contract after that. The normal leaving process would happen. There would be no commitment on either side so, the longer the break, the higher the risk that they'd find someone else to do the role and if I find a better role, I'll go for that instead. In the meantime I'd start winding up my Ltd Co.

This is just a way of making a clear divide between that previous contract which the client clearly has no intention of ever considering outside IR35, and the next one where we both agree to a PAYE arrangement. I accept that a risk still exists from HMRC trying to investigate the previous contract.

So, to my question. Do others have any opinion on what a suitable break would be? A month just seems like a long holiday, I'm thinking two months. I've worked constantly since I was a teenager apart from two weeks on the bench post-9/11 and I'm actually really looking forward to the prospect of getting some stuff done and maybe taking a holiday somewhere warm!

Expecting derision from the usual suspects but also hopefully some useful constructive opinions

[Lance]

So, to my question. Do others have any opinion on what a suitable break would be? A month just seems like a long holiday, I'm thinking two months. I've worked constantly since I was a teenager apart from two weeks on the bench post-9/11 and I'm actually really looking forward to the prospect of getting some stuff done and maybe taking a holiday somewhere warm!

Expecting derision from the usual suspects but also hopefully some useful constructive opinions

Nobody knows. We're don't know the level of risk anyway.
I'm not sure that taking a short break will help any more than closing the LTD. If after a break you are doing a totally different job then fine, but why can't that break be one day?

My advice is simple. Take off the amount of time that you need, to satisfy what you're really looking forward to.

[hairymouse]

If you go on the bench you might get 4 months off whether you want it or not.

[northernladuk]

If the worst should happen and HMRC decide they can't resist all this outside to inside juicyness I can't see any length of a break will make a difference. You (and they) have evidence of you doing x work determined outside at your client. When they find out you are, again, doing x work at the same client who has stated its inside they'll be licking their chops in anticipation.

I done see how a break can change this fact.

[WordIsBond]

I don't think a break of less than 3 months is likely to make a bit of difference. Over 3 months, I think you've differentiated yourself somewhat -- after all, if they are looking for outside to inside targets, they'll go after the guys who were outside on Friday and inside on Monday, first of all. By the time they get around to thinking about you, you hopefully should be able to get your company closed.

Do you have a lot of retained funds, and have to do MVL, or can you just strike it off? The latter is a lot faster.

The key here is probably not the length of break but getting the company closed. Once that's done, unless you've been fraudulent, you're pretty well in the clear, and it would be hard to prove you've been fraudulent anyway.

Taking a break of 3 months or so probably gives you a good chance of getting the company closed.

[NotAllThere]

If they want to keep you, are they prepared to mitigate your loss of income to some extent?

[GhostofTarbera]

My first thought was KitKat

My 2nd thought was it won’t matter


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