Should I trade as a Limited Company, umbrella or composite

[ASB]

You probably don't want a PLC dues to the initial share capital required and the auditing and reporting requirements. The norm would sdimply be a standard private limited company.

[nakvis]

With Private Limited Company, can we still take devidends??

[Arghhhh!]

Can a Self Employed person work as a consultant for a Limited Company ?

Hi,
I currently work as a self employed person who contracts via an umbrella company. Recently the work has dried up so I am not going to be working on a contract for the umbrella company. I am thinking of joining a small Ltd Company as Director to start a new venture (the director of this company already operates 2 other businesses through his Ltd company and want to add a 3rd business line) .
Questions are:
1 - Do I have to change my Self Employed status to Employed (if I become a director of his company)?
2 - do you know if I can keep my options open i.e stay self employed and also be a director & work on separate contracts not connected with the umbrella company?
3 - Also are there tax/ni/IR35 implications for me?
4 - Can you suggest another way i can work so that I can get work from both the umbrella company or the ltd company?
R.

[kindaichi0510]

With Private Limited Company, can we still take devidends??

Yes, you can still take out dividends if you set up a private limited company, because this means the company has shareholders - and therefore able to distribute the company's profit as "dividends" to its shareholders.

[JPE]

Steed Solutions

Hi Simon

Just wondered what your opinion was on IOM based companies like Steed Solutions? Pros and Cons?

Thanks

JPE

[DaveB]

Hi Simon

Just wondered what your opinion was on IOM based companies like Steed Solutions? Pros and Cons?

Thanks

JPE

Go and read the BN66 threads for an insight into just what can happen with these schemes. General opinion on the forum is that they are "Not A Good Thing".

[JPE]

Go and read the BN66 threads for an insight into just what can happen with these schemes. General opinion on the forum is that they are "Not A Good Thing".

Dave - thanks for the tip - it makes interesting reading. A friend has started using Steed Solutions and took advice from a tax consultant who advised him to go for it!! The scheme pays via "loans" which sounds dubious. Just wondered if anyone else uses this type of scheme?

[sal626]

I was in a loan scheme 05/07, which was similar to what Steed now offer.
It is not the same as the scheme offered by Montpellier which is what the BN66 thread is about.

There is a risk associated with these schemes, and its too early to say if they can be successfully defended or not. Saying that, I know of two schemes that are being queried (which is different to being investigated), and so far they have been successfully defended – by the scheme providers. In fact, the Special commissioner has twice ruled against HMRC on these, and in the second ruling, HMRC actually withdrew their appeal. The scheme providers are now actually chasing HMRC to close the query.

By joining one, it doesn’t mean you will 100% get done by the taxman, but it also doesn’t mean that you will never be queried/investigated. As of today, I am not aware of any EBT schemes that have been successfully challenged and closed (in the last couple of years). IMO, the govt will probably (have to) legislate to close these schemes soon…

[Maslins]

These offshore schemes are obviously appealing...but the risks involved are pretty huge.

Legislation is changing all the time, so it means you constantly need to keep yourself up to date on what's going on to ensure your scheme hasn't just been trumped. Sure, most of them are sufficiently clever in that they rely on the tax laws of the offshore company, and only "loan" money to you in the UK (HMRC are unlikely to be stupid enough to start taxing loans), but sooner or later they will be stopped.

Even if HMRC can't "get you" on the actual scheme itself, rest assured you will be a marked man/woman, and you'd better make sure you're absolutely squeaky clean elsewhere (taxwise...they don't care whether you wash or not).

You'll also typically find the scheme's fees involved are pretty huge (mainly because the provider knows its days are numbered...so even if it does work, they need to milk it now before it's stopped). Sure, the fees'll no doubt be less than the tax you're saving, but by how much, and is it worth it?

Far safer to "play friendly" and stay off the HMRC radar IMO.

[bigbrainbrad]

Ebt

Hi - I know this discussion has probably gone back and forth, but I want to know whether anyone is using or has successfully used an EBT structure, I've heard that this is the most effective way to manage UK salary.