Self Employed versus Limited Company

[fidot]

Why wouldn't they be ok with that? are there reasons companies prefer limitedCo contractors to self employed?

If a self employed person doesn't pay taxes owed, HMRC have been known to make the client (or agency) liable. In IT agencies never deal with self employed.

[gaff]

For get amount of money I would definitely register as self-employed.

What approximate level of earnings would you say it would be worth going down the limited company route?

If I were you I would stay as self employed (assuming your "client"/"employer" is ok with that) and just pay an accountant ~£120-150 at the end of the year to sort your self assessment form out for you

Why wouldn't they be ok with that? are there reasons companies prefer limitedCo contractors to self employed?

I think I need an accountant to submit my self-assessment, I've done it several times online myself and it is pretty easy to do.

[gaff]

To be honest, I am astonished that the OP has managed to work on an offshore O&G platform and been paid for the work apparently without anything contractual in place.

What about public liability insurance? What about Professional Indemnity insurance? Proper PII cover would likely be >£1000 for offshore work on its own. How did the OP get paid? Cash in hand? Seems very unlikely. Who paid for the offshore survival and all the other requirements to work off shore?

I'm not calling the OP a liar here, I am simply amazed that this has happened. And £12k a year? That is only about 10 or 12 days offshore for a high level technical specialist. There are lots of questions here.

Thanks for the reply. I should clear up a couple of points.

I do have a contract in place with the company that contracts me, but when I work I submit an invoice to that company I perform the work for, then they transfer the money into my bank account gross.

I have another job as a Mariner, but I can claim all that back via Seafarer Earning Deductions as I work abroad in that job. So for the most part it's just this contractor work I'm liable for tax.

It's only a job I do from time to time on a short term basis, at about £300 per day.

[ladymuck]

I only used an accountant to do my SA return for the first two years so I could see what I needed to report, or not. If you have simple tax affairs, it's not difficult to do it yourself. If you have lots of fingers in lots of pies, then you might want a bit of guidance from an accountant. Sounds to me like remaining self employed will be best for you in the immediate term. If you start earning more then it would be worth looking at LtdCo in the future.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

For get amount of money I would definitely register as self-employed.

You've already missed the deadline for registering for the 15/16 year but you won't face any penalty so long as you register and get your tax return filed by the end of January.

[Fred Bloggs]

To be honest, I am astonished that the OP has managed to work on an offshore O&G platform and been paid for the work apparently without anything contractual in place.

What about public liability insurance? What about Professional Indemnity insurance? Proper PII cover would likely be >£1000 for offshore work on its own. How did the OP get paid? Cash in hand? Seems very unlikely. Who paid for the offshore survival and all the other requirements to work off shore?

I'm not calling the OP a liar here, I am simply amazed that this has happened. And £12k a year? That is only about 10 or 12 days offshore for a high level technical specialist. There are lots of questions here.

[pr1]

Hi I'm looking for some advice regarding Self Employed versus Limited Company, if anyone is able to advise me?

Some background info:

I work offshore within the UK sector of the North Sea as a contractor.

In 15-16 tax year I recived about £12k in payment and in 16-17 I will receive about the same, £12k.

At present I haven't paid any tax or NI, as I don't know what the best way to do it is.

The work I do apparently doesn't fall under IR35,

Some people I know who do the same work, but earn a lot more than me, use limited companies, but I'm not sure this is worth while as I'm only earning around £12k from it.

I was thinking of declaring it on the self assessment as self employed income, as by the time I hired an accountant to put it though a limited company it might not be worth going that route?

If going down the limited company route was a better option, can payments received from invoices be put though a limited company, if the invoices are dated before the limited company was created?

All so confusing...

If I were you I would stay as self employed (assuming your "client"/"employer" is ok with that) and just pay an accountant ~£120-150 at the end of the year to sort your self assessment form out for you

An accountant for a LtdCo will cost you around a grand a year
An umbrella company will cost around £20-30 a week (essentially about the same as an accountant across a year)

At 12k earnings, neither will save you enough in tax/expenses/fiddles to cover their costs



(assuming you have no other income)

[northernladuk]

Have a look in the Umbrella Section. There is a sticky that goes through the options in detail for you. A little old but a good start.
http://forums.contractoruk.com/showthread.php?t=7487

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Tax

With no other earnings than the £12k during a tax year, not worthwhile opening up and running a limited company. I'm presuming you have no other earnings based on the info provided.

Maybe worthwhile engaging an accountant to prepare a self assessment return, relatively cheap and will be able to discuss options of reducing any tax liability, allowable expenses, etc.

[gaff]

Hi I'm looking for some advice regarding Self Employed versus Limited Company, if anyone is able to advise me?

Some background info:

I work offshore within the UK sector of the North Sea as a contractor.

In 15-16 tax year I recived about £12k in payment and in 16-17 I will receive about the same, £12k.

At present I haven't paid any tax or NI, as I don't know what the best way to do it is.

The work I do apparently doesn't fall under IR35,

Some people I know who do the same work, but earn a lot more than me, use limited companies, but I'm not sure this is worth while as I'm only earning around £12k from it.

I was thinking of declaring it on the self assessment as self employed income, as by the time I hired an accountant to put it though a limited company it might not be worth going that route?

If going down the limited company route was a better option, can payments received from invoices be put though a limited company, if the invoices are dated before the limited company was created?

All so confusing...