Reply to: Contracting with weekly commute, does it pay?

[Ignis Fatuus]

You can't take a job like that on a weekly commute, you need to move i.e. rent a flat and get yourself non resident in the uk. I'd go for at least €600 as well.

Funny you should mention that, I did go for at least €600. €500 was what I got. I looked at the difference between that and €0 and picked what I think was the lesser of 2 evils.

I'm not moving, that would imply breaking up with my partner, and I think that's a bit strong as a way of reducing costs. Not to mention being the opposite of getting a life: giving up your life, love, and country for a job.

[doodab]

You can't take a job like that on a weekly commute, you need to move i.e. rent a flat and get yourself non resident in the uk. I'd go for at least €600 as well.

[Ignis Fatuus]

What's your price for being away from home?

I wouldn't work away from home for less than 4 times the figure you're talking about, maybe 3 times if desparate, but that's because I've done a lot of it in the past - I was a permie consultant so on cr@p money too - but soon as I got married I had to leave that job. Now I can choose not to live away from home.

I wouldn't want to be away from my kids all week (the wife I could handle ), and seriously what's the point of working your life away from those you want to be with?

If you gotta go, you gotta go, and you're still a wage slave so use that role and it's income to grow out of the trap.

YOLO as the cool kids say these days.

I take your points, but my case is not as you describe. This is not a permie job, nor some sort of junior contract role that I can grow out of. It's about the rate for a senior developer.

The actual contract rate is 500 Euros per day. 3 or 4 times that is just not going to be on offer!

But when I do the arithmetic on 500 per day, i.e. 10k EUR/month, with NL 30% rule, NL tax, UK tax (with a credit for NL tax, but on the whole lot, not reduced by 30%), then take off £1600 per month for actual expenses (and that's keeping it low), it seems to leave about £3000.

Yes I feel like a wage slave, that's exactly the problem. How to get out of it, though? I suspect that the answer is not to work in the Netherlands, which is a shame.

[ChimpMaster]

What's your price for being away from home?

I wouldn't work away from home for less than 4 times the figure you're talking about, maybe 3 times if desparate, but that's because I've done a lot of it in the past - I was a permie consultant so on cr@p money too - but soon as I got married I had to leave that job. Now I can choose not to live away from home.

I wouldn't want to be away from my kids all week (the wife I could handle ), and seriously what's the point of working your life away from those you want to be with?

If you gotta go, you gotta go, and you're still a wage slave so use that role and it's income to grow out of the trap.

YOLO as the cool kids say these days.

[NickFitz]

It's McDonalds. You'll never even get an interview if you can't even get the company name correct.

The voice of experience

[bless 'em all]

It's McDonalds. You'll never even get an interview if you can't even get the company name correct.

Funny how this ties in nicely with your Contract to Perm discussions.

[NotAllThere]

I used to weekly commute. You get used to it. But not for £3000 a month. Last time I did it to the UK it was 3 times that. My first stint of weekly commuting - in 1995 - was for £4300 a month (ltd).

For the rate you've quoted - well, I suppose it's better than not working.

[norrahe]

You can use your UK limited to contract in NL.

All the agencies over there seem to give you the cr@p that you have to use an umbrella.

I moved there a year ago so have some good contacts with accountancy firms that understand the tax rulings and what you can and cannot do with UK limited.

PM me if you want more details.

[Ignis Fatuus]

geoffreywhereveryoumaybe, I agree, and indeed I have negotiated Mondays off for the NL contract, but I failed to negotiate a good rate so it's only half good.

Old Hack, for me it's not just the need to use a Dutch umbrella, it's the 2-country Catch-22 tax situation and the high cost of expenses (If I just rented a flat there and stayed there instead of coming home every weekend I could do it).

[Ignis Fatuus]

We're a two person operation and manage to get out 78% of our money.

£32k isn't worth the hassle, unless you are new ot the business and want their name on your cv.

Which is not the case. I just want to work.

Basically the worst-of-both-worlds taxation combined with the inability to claim expenses makes this arrangement worse than an umbrella.

I suppose the conclusion is that, although I like NL, in my circumstances it needs to be downgraded to an "if I really must" location. It's too expensive otherwise (and doesn't pay correspondingly more).

[Old Hack]

I am commuting weekly to Scandinavia and to make it worth my while I negotiated flexibility ie out Monday home Wednesday and negotiated a rate that doubled what I was on in the UK.

That way, you don't end up working too many days, can manage with my UK limited company and eases the pain of a long weekly commute.

Flexible working agreements are key with working from home the rest of the week

It's the Netherlands, and they will not allow uk Ltds to operate I believe. I turned down a job there the other month, due to the same issue. They do believe they can realise 69%, but they wanted too much control (the agency).

[geoffreywhereveryoumaybe]

If you get a good rate and flexibility

I am commuting weekly to Scandinavia and to make it worth my while I negotiated flexibility ie out Monday home Wednesday and negotiated a rate that doubled what I was on in the UK.

That way, you don't end up working too many days, can manage with my UK limited company and eases the pain of a long weekly commute.

Flexible working agreements are key with working from home the rest of the week

[Ignis Fatuus]

It's McDonalds. You'll never even get an interview if you can't even get the company name correct.

Darn, busted! Usually I'm fastidious to what some people might think of as pedantic, but I got sidetracked thinking about a Big Mac....

[Old Hack]

We're a two person operation and manage to get out 78% of our money.

£32k isn't worth the hassle, unless you are new ot the business and want their name on your cv.

[MarillionFan]

Exactly. Might as well be a Macdonalds graduate trainee manager (great benefits too).

It's McDonalds. You'll never even get an interview if you can't even get the company name correct.