Umbrella questions about SDC expenses, pensions and Scottish tax bands

[lucyclarityumbrella]

First, a big thanks to Lucy for sorting me out with calculations.

Welcome

Is that something that could be done through an umbrella via salary sacrifice too? Is there anything else that could be done that way too such as life insurance? Thanks

As for salary sacrifice we are pretty much restricted now to Pension and GAYE.

[DolanContractorGroup]

I've been selecting a brolly today and of the four I spoke to, two of them seemed unsure on what expenses, if any, could be claimed. I am obviously assuming 0, but two also said £25 a week expenses for traveling to the main location would be fine and if the client asked me to travel to other locations, I could claim for those.

Hi ascender,

Be careful of umbrellas that assume you can claim certain amounts. Unless they have done an SDC test, they can't say whether expenses will be applicable.

Many contractors claim genuine expenses under umbrella, and many more will be doing it now due to them being forced to go umbrella, but would otherwise be outside-IR35 if they were properly assessed by the client.

Thanks


Zeeshan

[ascender]

So why with the recent change in legislation and the risk averse nature of pretty much the whole industry, are brolly companies asking me about my working hours?

They all want me to agree and say that at my new gig I will work 7/8 hours a day, 5 days a week with a rigid start and finish time,

The honest answer is that I can start and finish when I want, I can work from any location I deem works best for me and the work on any given day and I am responsible for how I deliver the project elements under my control.

Why bother asking if they don't like the answer? I'm assuming this is all part of SDC, but that's kind of irrelevant now for a contract that's deemed to be inside IR35 right?

[pscont]

No that is for people who are outside IR35 but prefer to use an umbrella rather than using a limited company

Which expenses can contractors claim when working inside IR35? has a better overview of what you can or can't claim in that circumstance.

It would be a brave umbrella company who would allow you to use the SDC rules where the end client has a blanket ban on PSCs and a very brave agency that supported the umbrella's decision.

So is the 5% still there post April 2020? If working via brolly? I doubt it.

[northernladuk]

So is the 5% still there post April 2020? If working via brolly? I doubt it.

Definitely not.

[cojak]

So why with the recent change in legislation and the risk averse nature of pretty much the whole industry, are brolly companies asking me about my working hours?

They all want me to agree and say that at my new gig I will work 7/8 hours a day, 5 days a week with a rigid start and finish time,

The honest answer is that I can start and finish when I want, I can work from any location I deem works best for me and the work on any given day and I am responsible for how I deliver the project elements under my control.

Why bother asking if they don't like the answer? I'm assuming this is all part of SDC, but that's kind of irrelevant now for a contract that's deemed to be inside IR35 right?

Good question, maybe to calculate future overtime payments (which looks ridiculous written down, but I can't think of any other reason).

[lucyclarityumbrella]

Good question, maybe to calculate future overtime payments (which looks ridiculous written down, but I can't think of any other reason).

We have to comply with Agency Worker Regulations, so calculations look at hours worked, we also have to check comparable details of a permanent employee for checks on equal rights - although for many of you there are probably unlikely to be an equivalent!

[DolanContractorGroup]

So why with the recent change in legislation and the risk averse nature of pretty much the whole industry, are brolly companies asking me about my working hours?

They all want me to agree and say that at my new gig I will work 7/8 hours a day, 5 days a week with a rigid start and finish time,

The honest answer is that I can start and finish when I want, I can work from any location I deem works best for me and the work on any given day and I am responsible for how I deliver the project elements under my control.

Why bother asking if they don't like the answer? I'm assuming this is all part of SDC, but that's kind of irrelevant now for a contract that's deemed to be inside IR35 right?

Hi ascender,

Is this within the employment contract? If so, the contract will contain standard terms outlining the expected hours of work, and start and finish times, but should also state that these will align with the client's requirements to make it more flexible.

Umbrella contracts are generally not that rigid.

Thanks


Zeeshan

[gaz777]

Hi everyone,

As an update to this thread, I decided to go with Paystream as they said they could make payments directly into my Fidelity SIPP.

I started the contract this week, and got in touch to arrange the pension contributions, only to be told they don't support Fidelity.
As you can imagine, I'm not very happy.
It seems that one dept hasn't been talking to the other dept properly.
From what we could work out, the problem seems to be that Fidelity can only do regular payments by Direct debit - not different amounts each month as would happen as a contractor.

Does anyone use an umbrella that does make contributions to Fidelity?

if not, it looks like I'll need to start a SIPP with a new provider. whether I stick with Paystream is a different matter...

[lucyclarityumbrella]

Does anyone use an umbrella that does make contributions to Fidelity?

You will probably end up with the same issue with any umbrella - if you think about the umbrella cannot guarantee when they will receive funds so they are highly unlikely to engage with any provider who wants set payments, set dates, direct debit etc it isn't feasible for an umbrella to pay the pension until they have received the money.