Limited company with

[MPwannadecentincome]

I would have thought your accountant would have been able to advise you on this....

[Paddy]

I'm at the point of accepting a new contract and have decided to use a Ltd company outside of IR35.

However, I have a question that may or may not have come up before (I did try searching).

I'm a Java developer and thats the role thats been offered to me, however, my wife is a part qualified accountant/book keeper by profession (useful for doing the paperwork ;o). My wife is currently at home looking after the kids but has been working part time for 2 small companies and she is currently working for them as PAYE. Both companies are happy to instead sign contracts with her and for her to invoice them for the work she does rather than work on a fixed salary. Similarly her mum has the same profession and is looking to perhaps do the same as my wife.

The question is should we setup a separate company for the bookeeping/accounting work or would it be better to run a single limited company providing software development and accounting services ?

Anyone got any comments on the pro's and cons of using a single company ? ...is it better/worse/no different from an IR35 perspective ? ...in all cases it will be the company, not individuals providing the service.

Keep the accounting company entirely separate but do other accounting work as well as for your own ltd co.


. If your contractor Ltd Co goes futt; it won’t affect the accounting business. In this economical climate and the obsession with government introducing retrospective taxes there is a chance that your company could fail

[Troll]

I blame the newbies

standards are slipping

[Pondlife]

I see what you've done there. Normal service has been resumed.

[cojak]

<ADOLESCENT>

BOGIES!

</ADOLESCENT>

[Xenophon]

I don't belieeeeeeeeeeeve it.

No flames.

No abuse.

This forum is going to the dogs.

Do you recon he's boning his mum in law ?

lol

[threaded]

Having one accountant is bad enough, but two? That's perverted.

[EternalOptimist]

Do you recon he's boning his mum in law ?

[Drewster]

W Nick&Gonzo S......

Plus for serious replies in General.

I would think your Wife and Mum are more "at risk" from IR35.... if they are working PAYE and they simply swap to Contract... I think that is what IR35 was "supposed" to prevent.

[NickFitz]

What Gonzo Said, but note that if one of your contracts was inside IR35 it shouldn't make any difference to the other operations of the company: it's something that applies solely to fees received for a given contract.

If your contract was inside IR35 then it would be necessary to pay the earnings from your contract to you on a PAYE basis, although you would still be allowed to claim legitimate receipted business expenses within the rules laid down by HMRC. Even under IR35 there's an additional 5% of the pre-tax contract rate that is also untaxed if one contracts through one's own Ltd, but I don't know if this applies in the case where the Ltd also offers other services to other clients by other employees concurrently with the provision of services that falls under IR35.

But really, What Gonzo Said: you'll get much better responses on Accounting/Legal than you'll get here in General, which is usually a bit of a troll-infested mess.

I would add that if your wife and m-i-l are predominantly experienced in the more straightforward bookkeeping and accountancy services required by companies that don't suffer from the pernicious blight of IR35 then it could be worth seeking advice from a Chartered Accountant during the setting up phase, and maybe even investing in some additional (tax-deductible) training for them in the additional complexities that IR35-risk brings to matters.

Oh, and congratulations on the new contract

EDIT: as Gonzo mentioned, your first few posts will be moderated to ensure you're not a spammer, so your post to A/L won't appear straight away, but it's much less likely to drop off the front page before being approved over there. When you try to respond to people's posts, it can be a bit frustrating that your replies won't appear immediately; if there seems to be a good debate starting up and you want to be part of it, you can try using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any page to ask admin to approve you a bit faster. I think they're more likely to do that if they can see that you've got several worthwhile replies in the pipeline, and that holding them back will disrupt the discussion. Just don't contact admin, get approved, and then start spamming about viagra and casinos, as I'll probably get the blame for encouraging you

[Gonzo]

Bumped because it is a newbie post that dropped off the first page.

You might be better asking this in the Accounting / Legal Forum because you are more likely to get a sensible answer over there.

I think the general consensus is don't do it. IR35 is assessed on a contract by contract basis. etc etc but the reasons to back these assertions up may be found on the other forum.

[jimimak]

I'm at the point of accepting a new contract and have decided to use a Ltd company outside of IR35.

However, I have a question that may or may not have come up before (I did try searching).

I'm a Java developer and thats the role thats been offered to me, however, my wife is a part qualified accountant/book keeper by profession (useful for doing the paperwork ;o). My wife is currently at home looking after the kids but has been working part time for 2 small companies and she is currently working for them as PAYE. Both companies are happy to instead sign contracts with her and for her to invoice them for the work she does rather than work on a fixed salary. Similarly her mum has the same profession and is looking to perhaps do the same as my wife.

The question is should we setup a separate company for the bookeeping/accounting work or would it be better to run a single limited company providing software development and accounting services ?

Anyone got any comments on the pro's and cons of using a single company ? ...is it better/worse/no different from an IR35 perspective ? ...in all cases it will be the company, not individuals providing the service.