Help needed, new contractor

[malvolio]

Always listen to the advice of a true professional... Jolly well done.

[NetwkSupport]

Your Own Ltd Co or Sole Trader

Im also new to the contracting market myself, having come out of 6 yrs permie experience, ive now got a 6 month contract. Put it this way I was with an umbrella company (Parasol) for my first months invoicing, was annoyed that i was not taking home the percentage of my salary i thought i should get and I have now just setup my own ltd co.

Not putting parasol down at all, I would highly recommend them if you want to go down that umbrella route and have it all sorted out for you.....but, If you want to get the full benefits of contracting (ie make the most out of your new contracting salary, and use other benefits such as paying yourself dividends, claiming various other tax breaks....the list goes on...) then setup your own ltd company mate.

Also dont worry about not knowing where you will be in 3 months time, there is lots of work out there and besides half the fun is not knowing whats around the corner !!! just keep a goal in mind re your skillset so you dont get stale.

[WageSlave]

Some people I worked with were with Giant, and they were claiming £15 a day unreceipted for meals as they were away from home over 12 hours per day.
Giant have a dispensation, but I told them that that means nothing if they are invertigated (Giant would be safe though).

Bugger....
Right, who wants to write me 18 months worth of lunch receipts? A crisp £5 can be yours for the trouble!

[Lucifer Box]

Boredsenseless is spot on.

In fact, at least one government branch (the courts service) won't accept receipts for travel as proof of purchase, only the original ticket.

Yes, VAT laws were recently tightened to bring them in law with the rest of the EU. You must have a proper VAT receipt showing the seller's name and VAT number and the monetary amount of VAT paid. According to the strict wording of the revisions, it should also have YourCo's name printed on the receipt. As many retail outlets are not yet geared up to provide this facility, writing YourCo's name on the receipt seems to be acceptable.

[boredsenseless]

Indeed, the dispensation Giant has means that they don't need to show the receipts to HMCR. It in no way means you can claim expenses that you have not incurred nor in any way obviates your need to be able to show the receipts to HMCR when you are checked over. If you cannot produce receipts for your expenses, they will be disallowed, simple as that (oh, and you may be fined if HMCR considers it was a deliberate attempt to defraud the taxpayer).

Bear in mind that the receipt isn't actually necessary, only proof of the purchase. i.e. a train ticket can be proved by a credit card bill with a transactioon to money grabbing rail company for an amount, a printout from the web showing the ticket costs that much and a contract stating you work in the location.

Overall receipts are easier...

VAT however - in this case if you haven't physically got the VAT receipt you can't claim for it.

[planetit]

Giant are quite good.

No they're not. Unless your definition of “quite good” includes cocking up most things they do, and never responding to your letters and phone calls.

[Lucifer Box]

Some people I worked with were with Giant, and they were claiming £15 a day unreceipted for meals as they were away from home over 12 hours per day.
Giant have a dispensation, but I told them that that means nothing if they are invertigated (Giant would be safe though).

Indeed, the dispensation Giant has means that they don't need to show the receipts to HMCR. It in no way means you can claim expenses that you have not incurred nor in any way obviates your need to be able to show the receipts to HMCR when you are checked over. If you cannot produce receipts for your expenses, they will be disallowed, simple as that (oh, and you may be fined if HMCR considers it was a deliberate attempt to defraud the taxpayer).

[PerlOfWisdom]

Giant are quite good.

Some people I worked with were with Giant, and they were claiming £15 a day unreceipted for meals as they were away from home over 12 hours per day.
Giant have a dispensation, but I told them that that means nothing if they are invertigated (Giant would be safe though).

[jonhoops]

Giant are quite good.

Can anyone please tell me from your experience, which umberrella company to join in UK? I used to do contracting about 4 years ago, not sure what has changed and which umberrella company is good to join.

Who provided good service with right pay.

Thanks in advance.

[boredsenseless]

Zaf, you should take notice of Malvolio. He speaks much sense and is rarely wrong. If your plan only extends 3 months into the future, be very, very careful. You need to consider what you want from contracting and, more so, how you are going to achieve it. If it is just 3 months and then back to permiedom, think carefully if it is worth it. A 3 month gig on a permie CV will need some explaining to your next employer.

Good advice above, you should also consider that id you intend on going back to permie after contracting you need to work out how long it will be before you can pick up your next perm role, they always take longer than you'd think.

You may be better sitting tight where you are and spend your time looking for the next perm role at your current employers expense if your aim is to just dip your toe in and then jump back.

Whatever you decide good luck. If you go for contracting and you plan on getting another contract after this one (new or renewal) work towards the ltd company plan in time you'll wish you had if you don't.

You don't need to know where the next 3 months is coming from at the moment but you need to know if you want to still be contracting in 3 months. The fact you don't know where its coming from isn't an issue until 2 months in, but if you worry that you might not be able to get another contract then maybe your confidence in your ability isn't ready for contracting yet, and interviewers will pick up on it.

[Lucifer Box]

Zaf, you should take notice of Malvolio. He speaks much sense and is rarely wrong. If your plan only extends 3 months into the future, be very, very careful. You need to consider what you want from contracting and, more so, how you are going to achieve it. If it is just 3 months and then back to permiedom, think carefully if it is worth it. A 3 month gig on a permie CV will need some explaining to your next employer.

[malvolio]

Perhaps you ought to find out. Three months of anything is not worth the bother!

Not trying to be harsh or negative or critical, but if you haven't got at least an idea of where to be in three months, IT contracting is probably not the place to be in these rather harsher times; it's no longer a day-to-day sort of life.

But if you insist on doing it via an umbrella, people seem to speak fairly highly of Parasol.

[zaf]

Get your own limited, unless you only expect to be contracting for a very short time. That way it's all up to you.

Thanks.

My contract is only for about 3 months to start with, not sure what will happen after that.

[Lucifer Box]

Get your own limited, unless you only expect to be contracting for a very short time. That way it's all up to you.

[zaf]

Can anyone please tell me from your experience, which umberrella company to join in UK? I used to do contracting about 4 years ago, not sure what has changed and which umberrella company is good to join.

Who provided good service with right pay.

Thanks in advance.