IR35 is Government legislation (Finance Act 2000), with the aim of stopping contractors avoiding tax they should be paying. At that point in time employees would quit their full time job on a Friday - returning the following Monday as a ‘contractor' to do exactly the same job but paying far less tax! It was great for the contractors and legal at the time, but HMRC felt it was an unfair way of avoiding tax so changed the law for all contractors, by introducing IR35. This meant that contractors had to pay more tax & NIC than previously.
All contractors that use an umbrella company service are deemed to be working within IR35.
No. Dividends are not payable under a PAYE umbrella solution.
No. You are an employee of your umbrella company.
Without your P45 you will be paying ‘emergency' tax. This is not good - you will be taking home less money. As soon as you pick your umbrella company send them your original P45 (a copy will not do in this instance). If you do not have a P45, your umbrella company will send you a ‘P46', which you will need to complete and return to them. HMRC will then tell them your tax code.
No. Your umbrella company will refund to you all expenses actually incurred by you in the performance of your contract.
Working through an umbrella company, you do not need to worry about any of these things. Your umbrella company takes care of all your VAT, PAYE & NI responsibilities on your behalf. Income tax & NI are deducted and paid to HMRC by your umbrella company. You do not need to do a thing.
It is a legal requirement that Employers National Insurance is paid. As a contractor your rate of pay should allow for this deduction.
Your umbrella company should support you in finding your next contract; you should expect to have a long-term relationship with your umbrella company that will cover a number of contracts over a number of years. If you decide to leave your umbrella company they will send you your P45 which you will need to give to your next employer.
A dispensation means that the umbrella company and HMRC have less paperwork to do. A dispensation allows a company (any company not just an umbrella company) not to report at year end every single detail that has gone on during the year. It also means HMRC do not have to check every single detail. It is in effect a cost saving exercise by HMRC, which also benefits umbrella company. If your umbrella company has a dispensation (most do) it benefits them - not you. You still have to keep all your receipts, otherwise you will fall foul of HMRC's rules. A dispensation does not state what you can or cannot claim. If you want to claim a business expense you can as long as it was "wholly and exclusively incurred in the performance of the contract." If you spend £5 on lunch then you can only claim £5 back - NOT the amount an umbrella company will say you can claim.
Working through an umbrella company offers you no protection whatsoever from an HMRC investigation of your tax affairs. If HMRC discover you have claimed expenses to which you were not entitled you will have to repay your tax underpayment and very likely a large fine.
You are a professional contractor and you intend to seek a succession of assignments through your Umbrella Company. Your Umbrella Company's contract of employment is an ‘over-arching' contract and enables you to establish your permanent work place at your home. You will use your home office to
‘BACS’ and ‘CHAPS’ are payment terms. ‘BACS’ is the standard payment, when the umbrella company pays you, it will take three working days to reach your bank account, and this does not cost you anything. The ‘CHAPS’ payment, is a same day payment. Once the umbrella company has run your payment, this will reach your account the same day, you will have to pay for this service, but some umbrella companies have this method as standard and include it in their fee (though it is usually more expensive).
This rule states that the cost of travel from your home (being your permanent place of residence) to your contract site address (your temporary workplace) is only allowable as a tax deductible expense for as long as you believe your contract will not exceed 24 months. If you know your contract will be longer than 24 months, you should not claim travel expenses. Once your contract has exceeded 24 months (which you was unaware previously that it would) you are now deemed as a permanent employee and now unable to claim travel expenses.
As the Umbrella Company is deemed as your employer, like a permanent employee would be, they are legally bound to pay statutory sick pay to you after four consecutive days absent from work.
Like a permanent employee, contractors are also untitled to receive holiday pay as the umbrella company is deemed as the contractor’s employer.
A Managed Service Company or Composite company, Provides services of individuals to other persons. The contractor is placed in a limited company and made a director of that company along with other individuals; they are then paid in shares and dividends. In the chancellor's pre-Budget announcement on the 6th December 2006 he unveiled new proposals to remove the tax advantage that composite and managed service companies can offer their clients.
