Reply to: Parity insist that I sign up to "self billing"

[Boney M]

Self billing is increasingly common (my current gig is self billed and I've had several others in the past that were), I believe the weight of opinion is it's fine on the employee indication front.
Parity will already have your bank details to pay your current invoices by direct methods, I can't even remember when in the over 20 years I've contracted that I was paid by cheque.

There was a agency based in Holborn I forget their name, very posh sounding who insisted on 60 day payment terms and then to be paid by cheque, this was only a 6-9 months ago so some still do but not for me.

Just checked my email for the job offer and it was www.rothstein.co.uk

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

One of my clients uses self billing and I personally hate it. I have to do an extra layer of reconciliation, and I have to create the invoices which don't get sent to the agency. Was pretty annoying over Christmas when they had a different payment schedule, so the payments went out on different dates, so I had to go back and change my old invoices. Bit annoying.

I too create duplicate invoices for self-billing invoices simply because I use FreeAgent and accrual-based accounting so its important that the invoices are entered into my books on the correct date for VAT purposes (if I simply explained the income as sales in FreeAgent when it was paid the sale could potentially end up on the wrong VAT return if it crossed the VAT period).

If you're using cash based accounting, then you should simply create the invoice after you get paid. If you're on accrual based accounting, then you should create the invoice when you receive the self-billed invoice with an identical date for the reason I outlined above - it shouldn't matter when you actually get payment as the tax point is the date of the self-billed invoice.

[DirtyDog]

One of my clients uses self billing and I personally hate it. I have to do an extra layer of reconciliation, and I have to create the invoices which don't get sent to the agency. Was pretty annoying over Christmas when they had a different payment schedule, so the payments went out on different dates, so I had to go back and change my old invoices. Bit annoying.

So don;t create invoices that you don't issue. Simple.

[GillsMan]

One of my clients uses self billing and I personally hate it. I have to do an extra layer of reconciliation, and I have to create the invoices which don't get sent to the agency. Was pretty annoying over Christmas when they had a different payment schedule, so the payments went out on different dates, so I had to go back and change my old invoices. Bit annoying.

[The Spartan]

The agency i'm currently working via does it. I don't like it, but the choice I had was to either accept it, or argue and possibly lose the gig.

The agency I'm currently working via uses self-billing but I didn't sign up to it, I just invoice as normal and they haven't questioned it or the fact I didn't sign the opt out etc all I returned to them was a signed copy of the contract.

[Bellona]

+1 for self billing.

Easier for me and never had an issue with it.

+2. Never had a payment query and meant payment was much quicker.

[jmo21]

+1 for self billing.

Easier for me and never had an issue with it.

[kingcook]

The agency i'm currently working via does it. I don't like it, but the choice I had was to either accept it, or argue and possibly lose the gig.

Not wanting to lose a probable 6 figure sum, I chose to accept.

[DirtyDog]

I did self-billing with Parity some years back with no issue.

Do they still require paper timesheets signed in triplicate?

[kevpuk]

Another Self-Billing Fan here.......previous gig was actually the first one I needed to raise my own invoices for, and was a shock to the system

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

As mentioned above, self-billing invoices are becoming more and more common, nearly all the agencies we see are now using them. From an accountants perspective they are usually easier and contain less discrepancies.

As mentioned above, double check all payments with your own records. It is easy for a time sheet to go missing etc.

No affect on employment status - Have a read of the IR35 guides on this site to understand the key factors.

I hope this helps.

Martin

[Scrag Meister]

I have had 2 contracts with self billing and to be honest it worked a treat as long as the approver was on the ball with the online timesheet system.

Never had any issues with payment except once when the approver and the proxy approver happened to be off on the same few days.

Go for it, it makes life easier.

[cojak]

I have found that I get paid regularly and with consistency (no weird amounts that I have trouble reconciling) when I get self-billing.

There are some advantages to automated processes, if you insist to work outside of process, don't be surprised if you find yourself being forgotten as you fall into a gap.

[Wanderer]

Self billing has no impact on your employment status, companies do it to reduce their admin overhead. You should double check every invoice they issue though.

Agreed. It's not an IR35 pointer.

Technically, you don't have to agree to it either but it's probably in your best interests to just accept it.

It does shift the burden of checking that invoices from the supplier to the contractor through and sometimes they "self bill" the wrong amount.

[northernladuk]

Quite a few threads on this here..

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=se...m=122&ie=UTF-8