Reply to: Parasol Expenses situation from April?

[jh0711]

sounds worrying!!

sorry to hear you had such problems - but thanks for the further info.

it gives everyone some ideas of what can go wrong when using a brolly company.

[Anonimouse]

they did email me the payslips but they were eligible. and the revenue stated that is not legal payslips must be provided in legible format. loggin on and printing was not an option.

No it was not expenses it was pay. In the en the agency reclaimed the money.

nope correct tax code they had my P45 it was the revenue who told me I was due a rebate.

[jh0711]

Lucky you they held onto my money for 12+ weeks and stuffed up my tax hence the 2k refund from IR they also failed to provide me with payslips which is a legal requirement. so I can't recommend them!

that is strange - when Parasol pay you they e-mail a payslip to you - did you not check your e-mail? also if you log on to your own perosnal area of parasol - you know the bit where you can check your payments and download payslips - that might have been an option...........

also come on tell us - when you say they held on to your money for 12 weeks - do you mean you could see on your paytracker that Parasol had the money but were simply not paying you... or was it possible an issue with the agency/end client.....

with regards to tax - it is hard to stuff up someones tax becuase they are pretty definite rules around how tax is calculated - so the only possible issue here is that they did not have your p45 so had to put you on an emergency code - which is not an error but an HMRC requirment.....

was it a full weeks wages or maybe some expenses?

or was there something more to this -

as I have stated before there is no benefit to any umbrella company to hold on to your money - the extra revenue they may get from the interst is minute compared to what they charge in fees for making a payment to you and also the bad press for when they do f**k up.

give us the full story - just so we can all make our own decisions - also was this recently or in the long last past

Thanks

[Anonimouse]

I agree with the 12-18 months, just gone past the 18 months and still with Parasol, just find it so easy to fax a timesheet once week and get paid. So umbrella companies are good especially if you are lazy and can't be bothered to do it yourself, even if the net income would be greater in ltd.

Must say though, been with parasol since the start and only had one late payment (last week) so not bad.

Lucky you they held onto my money for 12+ weeks and stuffed up my tax hence the 2k refund from IR they also failed to provide me with payslips which is a legal requirement. so I can't recommend them!

[philip@wellwoodhoyle]

There is one other area I for one have problems with. To set up a ltd co I need to name a secretary for the company. Thats fine if you know someone you trust who will do the job. I also need to register a company address, great as long as your not living in rented accomodation that specifies no business allowed.

So I guess at this moment in time I am barred from setting up a ltd co as I land in both these categories. My option appears to be to get out of Giant and sign up with Parasol.

Most contractor specialist accountants will act as both company secretary and registered office address. Many will do so without additional charges. Why not ask around

[Cowboy Bob]

There is one other area I for one have problems with. To set up a ltd co I need to name a secretary for the company. Thats fine if you know someone you trust who will do the job. I also need to register a company address, great as long as your not living in rented accomodation that specifies no business allowed.

Most accountants will act as secretary for you and also allow you to use their offices as your registered address - mine does.

[rally37]

There is one other area I for one have problems with. To set up a ltd co I need to name a secretary for the company. Thats fine if you know someone you trust who will do the job. I also need to register a company address, great as long as your not living in rented accomodation that specifies no business allowed.

So I guess at this moment in time I am barred from setting up a ltd co as I land in both these categories. My option appears to be to get out of Giant and sign up with Parasol.

I have to say Parasol have answered all my questions without any heavy handed sales patter. Giant on the other hand cannot seem to answer one simple question like "Why cant I become just a sole trader instead of a ltd company?" Giant were quick to take my money when I started to register before I came across the requirements above and then refused to give me a refund when I tried to cancel. So as far as I am concerned Parasol are going to get my business from now on, until I am in a position to be able to fulfil the company registration requirements.

[jh0711]

true you do see a lot of moans and groans re umbrella co's personally that is because they have a perception of what should happen rather than reading what info they have been sent about what actually will happen.

lets face it timesheet and invoice to agency - agency pays money to brolly - brolly pays money to contractor is not exactly a convuleuted process but generally this is not what they complain about it is normally

1) I have paid too much tax? really - so Mr Contractor how much tax should you have paid - it is illegal for any company payrolling anyone to make them pay too much or too little tax - tax rules are just that - rules which are stuck to.

2) Why have I paid employers Ni? - why have you not read any info on contracting at all?

I could go on but I won't realistically it comes down to the fact that contracting is not like being a permie and as so many people on this board keep saying - read up on the subject understand your options and make your choice - don't just take the pimps word for it and then complain when it goes t*ts up

the pimp will make out that contracting is great and you can earn loads of money to make the rate look really attractive....... especially if you use umbrella/composite xyz (because they give me a nice brown envelope full of money)

[The Outsourcer]

I agree with your idea, however I think 12 - 18 months is a long time. 3 - 6 months is more than enough to realise if you are serious or not.

Also you miss the point that if you are with brolly then you can not claim expenses such as part elec, broadband, etc bills. These are NOT bogus expenses specially if you are either working from home or using part of your home to run the ltd.

I agree with the 12-18 months, just gone past the 18 months and still with Parasol, just find it so easy to fax a timesheet once week and get paid. So umbrella companies are good especially if you are lazy and can't be bothered to do it yourself, even if the net income would be greater in ltd.

Must say though, been with parasol since the start and only had one late payment (last week) so not bad.

[tim123]

Maybe broolies ought to care about how the people that 'work' for them are treated. But the experience of many is that they don't.

I assume that the rest of you rant is not aimed at me because I aleady agreed with the earlier poster that I wasn't motivated by money.

tim

[Money Money Money]

that is just rubbish.

Umbrella comapnies do care about how the people who use them are treated - there is no benefit to a brolly to continually stuff up the payments they make to you - they make less money and costs them more in a 'cost to manage each employee' way

but then if the only thing that motivates you is money then you are the sort of numb nuts who will be calling the brolly at 7.59 am on the morning they are supposed to get you money from the agency screaming at the poor service person on the end of the phone that you have not yet been paid then calling at regularly every hour on the hour to check whether you have been paid - then maybe the brolly sends you a text saying you have been paid so what do you do - phone up to check it is correct.

had you not phoned seven times that day everything could have been done that little bit quicker
also if you are a contrtactor you need to be flexible with your finances or how do you cope when you are on the bench


no brolly will ever purposfully not pay - the main issues will be
a) Money not recieved from agency - normally caused because timesheet has not been recieved by agency.
b) A sum of money from agency has been recieved but no remitance from agency confirming who funds are from - agency will be contacted but those of you who have tried to chase an agency on this sort of thing will know how difficult this can.

brollies fill a hole as I have always said they do the best job they can to keep you paid becuase if you are paid you are happy if you are happy the end client is happy if the end client is happy the agency is happy if the agency is happy they will refer more people to the brolly.....................

"poor service person" - I take it your talking from experience?

But to be fair I do agree with you, If they are that desperate for a weeks pay maybe they shouldn't be contracting!

Do people not save for the down periods anymore?

[jh0711]

that is just rubbish.

Umbrella comapnies do care about how the people who use them are treated - there is no benefit to a brolly to continually stuff up the payments they make to you - they make less money and costs them more in a 'cost to manage each employee' way

but then if the only thing that motivates you is money then you are the sort of numb nuts who will be calling the brolly at 7.59 am on the morning they are supposed to get you money from the agency screaming at the poor service person on the end of the phone that you have not yet been paid then calling at regularly every hour on the hour to check whether you have been paid - then maybe the brolly sends you a text saying you have been paid so what do you do - phone up to check it is correct.

had you not phoned seven times that day everything could have been done that little bit quicker
also if you are a contrtactor you need to be flexible with your finances or how do you cope when you are on the bench


no brolly will ever purposfully not pay - the main issues will be
a) Money not recieved from agency - normally caused because timesheet has not been recieved by agency.
b) A sum of money from agency has been recieved but no remitance from agency confirming who funds are from - agency will be contacted but those of you who have tried to chase an agency on this sort of thing will know how difficult this can.

brollies fill a hole as I have always said they do the best job they can to keep you paid becuase if you are paid you are happy if you are happy the end client is happy if the end client is happy the agency is happy if the agency is happy they will refer more people to the brolly.....................

[Bluebird]

Brollies are too impersonal to care, they have 100s of people working through them at any one time,
tim

You may get better service now that 123k have moved to Ltd companies

[tim123]

but you are missing the one single point that not everyone is motivated by money or the fact they feel like a big man when they tell people they are a director of a company.

I agree.....

But I am motivated by not having to deal with a company that stuffs up paying me this month (week), next month and the month after and just shrugs their shoulders when you complain.

Brollies are too impersonal to care, they have 100s of people working through them at any one time, some for just a few months and others on not much more than minimum wage. Thay don't care a fig abouit you.

I run a limited. It's a pain but the alternative's worse IMHO.

tim

[jh0711]

but you are missing the one single point that not everyone is motivated by money or the fact they feel like a big man when they tell people they are a director of a company.

if the return you get from a brolly is enough for you to live on then there is no motivation to set up a ltd co and mess around in that manner.

the vast majroity of the workforce are permanent - there salaries are lower than yours etc - if the only single motivating factor was money then the workforce would collapse - permies get job secrurity - which for a lot of people is much more important than an extra couple of quid in their pay check

it is pretty simple, any managment course will tell you that people have different motivators and it is not just money - those of you who bang on about the high returns from a Ltd Co are possible missing the point of why some people choose contracting as their way of life

it is maybe about variety and challenge and having change in your life meeting different people and taking on different roles for a lot of people it is not about chasing every last dime.

brollies fill a hole in the market for people who want to contract but really have no interst in the whole ltd co malarky - also if any of you have used many agencies for different contracts and gone PAYE with them you will know what a pain in the @ss it is to keep having to get your P45 from one agency, pass it to another and then wait 6-8 weeks for your tax records to catch up - with a brolly your tax records stay in the same place so you can go from gig to gig with no worries about emergency tax etc etc etc and that in itself is worth something....