Reply to: PAYE salary through Prosperity4 for £50 one off fee

[oldtimer45]

Parasol

Parasol charge £62 a month for the monthly invoice/timesheet option

If you invoice and get paid weekly, it's £26 per week

They do skank you if you want a CHAPS transfer though (above prices are with BACS 2 day transfer), charging £35 (although that is taken off your gross pay).

[dmini]

Yes - I got done by P4 in the early days. Had to find a company fast and made the wrong choice
Don't touch - also watch out, they keep swapping between entry and exit fees - its hidden in one of the appendices on their contracts - it was when I was there. I got it back though!

[bangface]

6% of the fee is a joke charge for a brolly.

You should be looking to pay around 15 pound per week, with NO minimum charge.

tim

6% is horrific, basically anyone earning over 20k pa is being ripped off and thats pretty much everyone!! If it's true how on earth are they still in business? They must have the agencies in their back pockets? But then I guess they could afford to pay them 3% if they did and thats not a bad jolly for the agent!!!

I agree with tim123 £15 per week is a fair charge

I've joined Go Umbrella recently and they have a special deal on at present at £10 per week and so far so good.Worth a look at, but I would be interested if prosperity4 are going to charge £50 one off fee for processing payments .

but if you can get it for just £10 a week like tobim then its a no-brainer really...

They charge me a set fee

Just for the benefit of the board lilfreckles, how much do Parasol currently charge?

[malvolio]

No penalties have been charged as a result of an IR35 case. The three (yess, count them, three) that have been challenged at the commissioners that were lost (and probably need not have been, incidentally, but there you go) resulted in claims for the unpaid tax and interest. Provided you have made reasonable efforts to ascertain the tax position and then act in that belief, you will not be fined.And sensible people don't take out insurance on a case by case basis. They join the PCG and do it for all of them in one hit (as well as picking up a dozen other benefits and some useful knowledge, such as how to recognise an IR35 caught contract)

[bman]

After alot of reading, changing tune

ok - thanks for all the replys -
looks like no one is aware that they offer that service and/or has used it. It may be fairly new, I don't know.
For people on low hourly rates or those only contracting short term with no expenses this may be worth looking at. Or as i said before - extremely lazy people
As a pure PAYE service for £50 quid for life, then I think for a very select few people it isnt a bad option, especially first timers who cant be bothered to spend the amount of time I just have reading documents and opinions etc.
Also possibly for people on low rate contracts who dont wanna pay alot for any kind of service and just wanna get paid. Whatever, its good to know that is an option

but...

After a lot of reading, and I mean ALOT of reading of every bloody document out there I have come to serveral conculsions....

1. the definition, clarity, morality etc of ir35 is still in much dispute , and in my experience of life, where there is confusion there is oppertunity.

2. lets not kid ourselves. We all want to earn as much as we can for what we do and there are some great accountants out there who appear to offer to help you to do this with a minimum of fuss, considering you do a bit of basic research.

3. Tax breaks are there as an incentive to british small businesses for a reason. We provide the basis of all entrepreneurial growth and out of every 10 IT contractors , maybe 2 will go on to form multiperson service orientated startups. These become the next generation SME's and a few will go on to be the next Google's. Competition is good for the economy and should always be encoraged. The UK is in an eviable position due to the fact that we have bright, well educated people and with the right personal drive and experience they will continue to keep the UK innovative and competative and define new business models and working practices. Given the right financial incentives they will me motivated to take on these increased risks. And rightly so should be rewared for it by the government by paying less tax as it takes courage but is needed to keep the UK at the front in a global economy. blah blah blah.


4. so ultimately - getting a good accoutant and limited company IS worth it.

I can hear alot of you all yawning with "we already told you so"'s, and in amazement that it takes this long to figure this out but it really really isnt clear for people to begin with

And its not even morally wrong! Its not tax evasion. Its our carrot for us donkeys to stop letting the corporations do it all for us and learn about business. (however I'm told that i won't be needing these "morals" for much longer now ive joined the contractor world!

Is is the financial reward for doing some of the hard work for ourselves, being aware of the laws of running a business. Cos lets face it. People who are not risk advese and financially abitious, as contractors seem to be, are the very types of people likely to start companies. The government recognises this and its the first step into bigger business and support of the economy.

It's also reward for the fear of knowing that you are suddenly legally liable for stuff that you are probably going to be entrusting to an accountant youve never met face to face and probably never will.

My final question is reagarding penalites handed out should the worst happen and there be a mistake, or misjudgement regarding ir35.

I'm sure you've all thought about it as well but its the case of if mine, my accountant, contract reviewer's judgement is wrong regarding IR35 and I've suddenly got the men in black coats at my door. For example, if you do have a borderline ir35 contract and decide to sail close to the wind and take out HMRC investigation insurance etc. are the implications just finanical? I.e will the insurance cover it and that be the end of it? Or are there prison sentances, possibilites of the taxman being on my back for life and other impications?

Is anyone aware of whether there has been any relevant case law surrounding this? Im interested in actual penaties that people have been dealt.

[MonkeyWorld]

Without wanting to come across all controversial - For the love of god, why a PAYE umbrella ?

Surely if you push things, move on a bit more, you can get a better salary + benefits package that makes you feel all warm inside than going the PAYE umbrella route. Also, I understand that in your words, 'your no accountant', but neither are a lot of ltd. co. contractors, in fact some of them are just useless with money...and that's why they pay an accountant to do all the hard work for them and be on the end of a phone for advice.

Get yourself a decent accountant (plenty about that know the contracting market)... they should do everything for you, including advising on a bank account, salary/div/share structure.... really isn't all that difficult... go on take a chance - proper ltd. co. contracting is the most rewarding (or should that be liberating) move you can make and you won't regret it.

[lilfreckles]

Join Parasol they have been around for years and has not been affected by the new legislation.

They charge me a set fee and I can claim expenses wich go to my tax relief. Always there to give me good service answering my calls.

Once I had a problem but they managed to solvet almost there and then. Try them!!

[tim123]

I can't believe they still have the cheek to try and charge 6% ! Do they actually charge anybody that much ?

To someone on 8 pound per hour, 15 pound a week is about 6%.

And yes, there probably are people who earn 8 pound per hour working through brollies.

tim

[rootsnall]

6% of the fee is a joke charge for a brolly.

You should be looking to pay around 15 pound per week, with NO minimum charge.

tim

I can't believe they still have the cheek to try and charge 6% ! Do they actually charge anybody that much ?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

hello all,

I'm a first timer contractor whos just got a contract and looking to find out how the hell to pay myself.

I've read about limited companies and umbrellas etc and laughed at and been appaulled at the same time by the abuse people are getting on here for asking stupid questions but im gonna ask anyhow as im still none the wiser about what id be best off doing.

basically im one of those people who ive heard alot of this board saying - you should f**k off and go back to being permant if your not a professional capable of running your own business. Fair play. Point taken. But the fact is that I cant really be ar*sed. i couldnt care less about businesses. I like working in IT and im good at it but im not an accountant, have no head for figures at all.

so with that said i spoke to prosperity4 about using them as an umbrella and was shocked that they wanted 6% of my gross and due to the fact that i will have pretty much no real expenses to claim to talk of they told me (to thier credit) it wasnt worth it for me to do that. However they said that i could just do PAYE through my agency (but they dont offer this unfortunately) or through them for a one off fee of 50 quid.

Now that sounds to me like a deal. Get the contract wages and all of the hassle free paid once a month easy life of a permie.

is anyone using this service?

cheers,

bman



- sitting back enjoying the ride

Any umbrella company has to pay you through PAYE - I cannot see what is being offered here that you would not normally receive

[tobim]

I've joined Go Umbrella recently and they have a special deal on at present at £10 per week and so far so good.Worth a look at, but I would be interested if prosperity4 are going to charge £50 one off fee for processing payments .

[tim123]

6% of the fee is a joke charge for a brolly.

You should be looking to pay around 15 pound per week, with NO minimum charge.

tim

[malvolio]

The reason people who say they can't be arsed get sledged is becasue they can't be arsed, yet expect to get the tax breaks. You are at least honest enough not to want them either and are happy with a PAYE position, so fine, go use an umbrella since that is exactly what they're for.

But it is a measure of the quality of your research that you've picked P4...

[Cowboy Bob]

Be warned that P4 are the brolly most likely to come up if you search from horror stories about brollies... (allegedly - I've also heard they're litigious)

[Sockpuppet]

PAYE/Umbrella was made for people that dont want to run thier own company. Not using thier service but PAYE is all pretty much the same. Is that £50 a month or one off?