Irish Jurisdiction Contract Review - Finding a solicitor?

[Lance]

I originally thought the same thing but was then advised to have the contract reviewed although can't remember why now. From memory just because a contract is within another jurisdiction doesn't necessarily mean IR35 won't apply.

Not sure how they could apply the employment tests. It certainly won't do any harm to get it reviewed of course.
I imagine that HMRC would simply bugger off to some lower hanging fruit if your contract was good and the jurisdiction was not cut and dry.

Here's a link to an older but similar discussion.
http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...5-ireland.html

[ShandyDrinker]

I am also not a lawyer but it seems to me that IR35 cannot apply as the employment status would be defined in Irish law.
Therefore from a UK company standpoint the OP would be simply exporting goods and/or services to another EU country.

I originally thought the same thing but was then advised to have the contract reviewed although can't remember why now. From memory just because a contract is within another jurisdiction doesn't necessarily mean IR35 won't apply.

[Lance]

I am not a lawyer. But I think IR35 is an application of a UK law, which you are subject to while you are living and working in the UK. Therefore I would have thought the lawyer's job would be to look at the contract, and offer an opinion, based on UK law, as to whether the contract falls under IR35 or not.

I am also not a lawyer but it seems to me that IR35 cannot apply as the employment status would be defined in Irish law.
Therefore from a UK company standpoint the OP would be simply exporting goods and/or services to another EU country.

[ShandyDrinker]

If it's just a bog standard IR35 review you're after QDOS have done a couple for me for ROI contracts over the years. Obviously for anything more you'll need proper legal advice. Watch out for registering for PRSI exemptions among other things over there.

[WTFH]

Will your contract be for work mostly in the UK, or mostly in Ireland?
Is this direct or through an agent?
Is the contract in € or £?


If it's direct with the client, then I would have thought that you should be drawing up a contract, not them.


For at least the last 6 years, my clients' European head offices have either been in Switzerland or Ireland. I've never had an issue with my contracts stating the primary location I would be working from or the currency I would be paid in.

[NotAllThere]

I am not a lawyer. But I think IR35 is an application of a UK law, which you are subject to while you are living and working in the UK. Therefore I would have thought the lawyer's job would be to look at the contract, and offer an opinion, based on UK law, as to whether the contract falls under IR35 or not.

The only alternative is to give it to an RoI lawyer, who will then say he can't do it, because he doesn't know what IR35 is.

In my experience lawyers are not good at thinking outside of the box and sometimes need guidance.

[Gam]

A potential new client has offered me a contract with Irish jurisdiction (Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland).

Their company is registered in Ireland where they have their headquarters. They have an office in the UK which I would be working with as part of the contract.

I have contacted a number of solicitors to get the contract reviewed, but they have all came back to me saying that they cannot offer legal advise as it is not based on UK law. At best, I have been offered a review under "common sense" with no guarantees. Another suggested that I try working with an Irish solicitor, but I am concerned about the (legal) complications this would have too.

Has anyone been in a similar situation to this before?