Reply to: Timesheet Not Signed - Options

[malvolio]

There is far too much information to read.

Agreed. Snag is, you have to know it...

[pmeswani]

as well as make sure that I am IR35 complaint

Or even compliant... How deeply do they do that then? Negotiate contractual changes or simply review and approve it? Anyway, you don't want to be compliant, you want to be in a position where it doesn't apply.

Thanks for pointing out the typo. If my contract is not IR35 compliant, they would point it out, if I have seen it already. I would negotiate the contract myself and be prepared to walk away from the job if I cannot get the compliance. I understand what you mean about not getting the IR35 to apply, and in my own way I see that as being compliant.

The thing is, there are a lot of bits and pieces you don't actually know which will become important when you go independent, so make sure you learn as much as you can rather than hand it all over and forget about it.
At the very least read the First Timer guides - here, the PCG website and the SJD website.

I don't intend to hand over control of my company to anyone other than me. I do read the articles on PCG from time to time. I think I have read the stuff on this site as well... There is far too much information to read.

We all need expert support to some extent; doesn't mean we shouldn't be aware of what they are doing for us, even if we can't do the detail.

[malvolio]

[quote]as well as make sure that I am IR35 complaint[//quote]

Or even compliant... How deeply do they do that then? Negotiate contractual changes or simply review and approve it? Anyway, you don't want to be compliant, you want to be in a position where it doesn't apply.

The thing is, there are a lot of bits and pieces you don't actually know which will become important when you go independent, so make sure you learn as much as you can rather than hand it all over and forget about it.
At the very least read the First Timer guides - here, the PCG website and the SJD website.

We all need expert support to some extent; doesn't mean we shouldn't be aware of what they are doing for us, even if we can't do the detail.

[pmeswani]

Many accountants will charge a fixed monthly which allows you to ask questions for no extra charge. Raising invoices isn't exactly difficult. And chasing payments - well in over 10 years of contracting, I've only had to do that once, and followed payontime.co.uk's advice and got the money.

However, so long as you are in control of your company, you may not be caught by MSC legislation.

Who is your supplier, seeing as your happy with them?

The one thing I did forget to mention is that they do check my expenses as and when I submit them as well as make sure that I am IR35 complaint. They also provide, as part of the monthly charge, the insurance I need (Employers - £10 Mil - and Public Liability Insurance £5 Mil). There are other services they do offer, which I cannot recall off hand. I know accountants are cheaper, and yes I am in control of my business, I just chose to call on help from a 3rd party whilst I am focusing on day to day things. Once I am firmly placed in the contracting world, I will obviously look at more economical options. Am I entirely happy with the PSC? Not really.. but I don't believe that anyone or any company is perfect. I prefer not to advertise the company by name, as I don't benefit from doing their advertising.. but all I will say is that they are Contractor UK Alliance Partners (if their website is accurate enough).

One day I will learn how to do basic accounting, but not right now.

[NotAllThere]

Answer my questions without charging me extra (other than the amount I already pay them). They also chase payments on my behalf if needed. I tend not to trust anyone who works in Finance / Banking / Trading, as they are all theiving gits.

Many accountants will charge a fixed monthly which allows you to ask questions for no extra charge. Raising invoices isn't exactly difficult. And chasing payments - well in over 10 years of contracting, I've only had to do that once, and followed payontime.co.uk's advice and got the money.

However, so long as you are in control of your company, you may not be caught by MSC legislation.

Who is your supplier, seeing as your happy with them?

[ASB]

And anyway, This is Malvolio speaking. Always grumpy, usually wrong - remember?

Don't recall him as particularly grumpy (or wrong), but certainly pompous. Mind you anybody who could get tricked into that outfit must also be fairly gullible.....

[malvolio]

He has given no indication of whether he considers himself to be running a "business" or not. In fact the only thing he has said is that a PSC is raising invoice so he can get paid.

This may be owned by him, it may not. It may in fact be poorly described and in fact be a factoring agency for all we know (though I doubt it). He may consider himself well and truly caught by IR35 and simply accepts it and ensures his personal remuneration is all PAYE. From the tiny bit of information we do know (which was only related to why he has 3 timesheets and no problems with doing that) you have drawn an awful lot of conclusions and simply damned him.

You may indeed be right, but you have got very little to base your criticism of him on.

OK, but as I said earlier, I wasn't pointing at him (her?) specifically, merely illustrating the point from a convenient example. That said, I think we can assume that the PSC is not what we would call MyCo, but is some external accountancy/umbrella/ex-MSC from the context used. AS you say, he may well be ntirely right in what he's doing, but there are a lot of non-brolly-using people out there getting business-level benefits to their income while not actually being in business in any accepted sense of the term.

And anyway, This is Malvolio speaking. Always grumpy, usually wrong - remember?

[ASB]

Careful. You're confirming my assertion that you're not running a business other than as a tax dodge...

He has given no indication of whether he considers himself to be running a "business" or not. In fact the only thing he has said is that a PSC is raising invoice so he can get paid.

This may be owned by him, it may not. It may in fact be poorly described and in fact be a factoring agency for all we know (though I doubt it). He may consider himself well and truly caught by IR35 and simply accepts it and ensures his personal remuneration is all PAYE. From the tiny bit of information we do know (which was only related to why he has 3 timesheets and no problems with doing that) you have drawn an awful lot of conclusions and simply damned him.

You may indeed be right, but you have got very little to base your criticism of him on.

[malvolio]

Answer my questions without charging me extra (other than the amount I already pay them). They also chase payments on my behalf if needed. I tend not to trust anyone who works in Finance / Banking / Trading, as they are all theiving gits.

Careful. You're confirming my assertion that you're not running a business other than as a tax dodge...

[pmeswani]

So, the PSC raise invoices for you. What else do they do that an accountant wouldn't normally?

Answer my questions without charging me extra (other than the amount I already pay them). They also chase payments on my behalf if needed. I tend not to trust anyone who works in Finance / Banking / Trading, as they are all theiving gits.

[NotAllThere]

So, the PSC raise invoices for you. What else do they do that an accountant wouldn't normally?

[pmeswani]

Hang on a mo. OK, you're not the guy with the timesheet problem admittedly, but you are the guy using the PSC. So the rest of it still applies though, doesn't it?

Anyway, I'm certainly not having a pop at you personally, it's all part of the ongoing campaign to make contractors realise there's a bit more to it than most seem to believe.

Not necessarily. Making generalised comments saying that I will fall foul of MSC laws just because I use a PSC is baseless, unless you have evidence to prove that all PSC's are currently falling foul of MSC laws. I chose to use a PSC whilst I am trying to find my feet and get my head around the whole idea of contracting. After the first year, if I am still in Contracting and feel that I will go a long way, I will probably part company with the PSC and go down the route of an Accountant. It may even turn out that Contracting is not for me, but what I am learning from the PSC can be used for when I may decide to start my own business years down the line or when I decide to go to a cheaper alternative.

I am not a complete idiot as you may imply, I just don't have the confidence and time to doing my own accounting just yet.

[malvolio]

As already stated by someone else... it's not me who has the problem with contracts, etc. Maybe you should read the whole thread before jumping down a contributor's throat? But thanks to your comment, I think I will keep my future comments to myself.

Hang on a mo. OK, you're not the guy with the timesheet problem admittedly, but you are the guy using the PSC. So the rest of it still applies though, doesn't it?

Anyway, I'm certainly not having a pop at you personally, it's all part of the ongoing campaign to make contractors realise there's a bit more to it than most seem to believe.

[pmeswani]

So answer me one small question. If you do no work on your own behalf in terms of running the business, and have no knowledge of basic accountancy practices, what makes you think you should be taxed as a business? And when something goes wrong and you get done over by HMRC or a client (ermm, like now), how much use is it pointing at someone else and saying "It's all their fault"? It's your legal responsibility remember (or perhaps you never knew). Plus you're probably way too close to the MSC rules for comfort so are you paying full PAYE or wrongly claiming dividends?

OK, that's three questions. Here's another one - how much don't you know you don't know that you should know?

As already stated by someone else... it's not me who has the problem with contracts, etc. Maybe you should read the whole thread before jumping down a contributor's throat? But thanks to your comment, I think I will keep my future comments to myself.

[NotAllThere]

Mal - it's TheVoice who's being done over by the client, not pmeswani