Limited vs. Umbrella

[SlimRick]

My home is in North Wales, so I travel weekly to South Yorkshire, stay with friends and family and regularly work over 10hrs a day setting off before 7am.

[redkins]

Slimrick - how do you get your expenses up to that? What kinds of things are you claiming for? I'm claiming between £5 and £10 per day for food and about £190 per month for travel. Are you claiming a lot of miles or something?

Russ.

[Lumiere]

But be careful: most "contractor calculators" assume that you will be outside IR35, and assume that your company will be paying you most or all of your income by dividends.

So actually they are generally calculators of salary vs dividends, not of Umbrella vs Ltd.

There are different kinds covering almost everything, including IR35 in/out and Umbrella / Ltd ...

[the_duderama]

But be careful: most "contractor calculators" assume that you will be outside IR35, and assume that your company will be paying you most or all of your income by dividends.

So actually they are generally calculators of salary vs dividends, not of Umbrella vs Ltd.

I've just tried those calculators and it thinks i'd get about 500 per month less than i actually do through parasol, and i don't claim any expenses.

[expat]

If I were you, I'd look at these on line calculators as a guide-

http://calculator.contractoruk.com/

But be careful: most "contractor calculators" assume that you will be outside IR35, and assume that your company will be paying you most or all of your income by dividends.

So actually they are generally calculators of salary vs dividends, not of Umbrella vs Ltd.

[SlimRick]

For comparison, here's my figures for the past 3 months - also with Parasol.

March - 82.5%
Apr - 79%
May - 78%

Monthly expenses are usually around £1100 p/m

[cojak]

I thought that would get your attention, but I'm not asking which to go for as I know that's been done to death on these forums. I thought I'd post some figures. I did a search but couldn't find a post I'd seen in the past that said what % of money billed you could expect to keep with a limited company vs. umbrella.

So, here's the percentages of what I billed (not including VAT) that ended up in my bank account for the last three months using Parasol as an umbrella company.

March - 68% (this included an expense claim for over £800)
April - 62% (including approx £300 expenses)
May - 63% (including approx £300 expenses)

As I said above, I couldn't find the original post I'd seen saying what percentage of your earnings you could expect to keep with a limited but I seem to recall it was over 70% generally, so I'd be glad if someone could reply to this with some figures.

As someone who hasn't contracted in nearly 10 years, I went with Parasol because I wasn't sure if I'd escape IR35, I needed to get something in place pretty quickly, and I didn't feel confident that the contract would last long, so it seemed like a decent bet at the time. However I wasn't really happy with them pretty much from the off, from misquoted figures for the cost of their service, poor responsiveness to questions, to charging 10% as a "deposit" for the privilege of expensing my own laptop, which I understand the reasons for now, but is avoidable with a ltd company.

So I'm kind of looking for an excuse to move to ltd. and if anyone can give me an idea of how these figures stack up, I'd appreciate it. One other thing to mention is that I am hoping to get a mortgage within the next three months or so - I haven't dug around on here for mortgage info but any heads up would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Russ.

Not sure why you need 'an excuse' tbh. You either do it or you don't.

[Fred Bloggs]

If I were you, I'd look at these on line calculators as a guide-

http://calculator.contractoruk.com/

[redkins]

I thought that would get your attention, but I'm not asking which to go for as I know that's been done to death on these forums. I thought I'd post some figures. I did a search but couldn't find a post I'd seen in the past that said what % of money billed you could expect to keep with a limited company vs. umbrella.

So, here's the percentages of what I billed (not including VAT) that ended up in my bank account for the last three months using Parasol as an umbrella company.

March - 68% (this included an expense claim for over £800)
April - 62% (including approx £300 expenses)
May - 63% (including approx £300 expenses)

As I said above, I couldn't find the original post I'd seen saying what percentage of your earnings you could expect to keep with a limited but I seem to recall it was over 70% generally, so I'd be glad if someone could reply to this with some figures.

As someone who hasn't contracted in nearly 10 years, I went with Parasol because I wasn't sure if I'd escape IR35, I needed to get something in place pretty quickly, and I didn't feel confident that the contract would last long, so it seemed like a decent bet at the time. However I wasn't really happy with them pretty much from the off, from misquoted figures for the cost of their service, poor responsiveness to questions, to charging 10% as a "deposit" for the privilege of expensing my own laptop, which I understand the reasons for now, but is avoidable with a ltd company.

So I'm kind of looking for an excuse to move to ltd. and if anyone can give me an idea of how these figures stack up, I'd appreciate it. One other thing to mention is that I am hoping to get a mortgage within the next three months or so - I haven't dug around on here for mortgage info but any heads up would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Russ.