contracting uk

[reddeagle]

Guys,

I am about to embark on a contract in the UK and have been looking at options for setting up a company and would like to get the views of people here.

I was thinking of contracting via an Irish registered limited company. I travel back and forth from galway most weekends, out Morning and back Friday night, i reckon i am over 183 nights in Ireland.
I have a home in galway with mortgage a car etc.

I also have an apartment in London at the moment.

Can anyone suggest what would be best to do here. The idea of setting this contract up via Irish contract, would be that i could expense my flights home and train travel over here.

Any tips.

 

[command]

IR35 has more or less wiped out the contracting industry in the UK. As a result there is little or no benefit to you from contracting in the UK. In Ireland certain expenses are allowable in the hands of contractors. In the UK this is not te case.

In particular in your case travel expenses will not be allowable. The difficulty that you may have is that your income is UK sourced income and therefore comes under the remit of IR35 and whether you have a company or not might not offer any tax deduction for travel to and form Galway.

The majority of my clients are contractors and we have had problems with them going to the UK to take up contracts.

 

[sinbadsailor]

IR35 has more or less wiped out the contracting industry in the UK. As a result there is little or no benefit to you from contracting in the UK. In Ireland certain expenses are allowable in the hands of contractors. In the UK this is not te case.

IR35 is just one thing to think about if running under a UK company over there. It hasn't wiped anything out!

Anyways, the question was about whether or not the poster could take a contract in the UK and run from an Irish registered company?

I for one would like more information on this aspect of IT contracting as I too am looking at UK contracts for the future? The rates here in Ireland are criminal as opposed to the UK for similar skills

 

[Resident]

Hi Reddeagle,
I think the first question re location of company should go to the uk agent(s).
What I hear back from a friend in the uk contracting is he had to set up
a UK co, reason was the end customer/agent insisted on it (they didn't want to be billed from an irish ltd co). So this may dictate.

On the IR35 side, he seems to be ok through a combination of regularly changing contracts and billing to/working for more than one customer. I guess this makes sense; if he's only there 3-6 months and has other customers, he's not seen as an employee. The expenses rules do seem to be more strict too, from what I gather, more along the lines of fully receipted, and with fairly miserly mileage allowances.

hope this helps somewhat.

 

[reddeagle]

IR35 is just one thing to think about if running under a UK company over there. It hasn't wiped anything out!

Anyways, the question was about whether or not the poster could take a contract in the UK and run from an Irish registered company?

I for one would like more information on this aspect of IT contracting as I too am looking at UK contracts for the future? The rates here in Ireland are criminal as opposed to the UK for similar skills

This is exactly what my thoughts were, run the contract through an irish registered company. Other poster had good point that the client may not want this.

I still think contracting over here is a ok. I moved over here in jan and got hooked up with a job as a permie paying 65k .

This week i have applied for a few jobs and have two interviews this week. One of them are paying £600 p/d the other 550 both 6 month contracts. So if i add that up over time I think it will be ok. Have found http://www.contractoruk.com/ to be a good reference also. If honest im finding this IR35 very confusing.

 

[command]

Depending on the lenght of the contract you may be able to use an Irish company and treat yourself as an employee who has been sent on secondment to the UK.

Alternatively if the contract is lucrative enough there are certain offshore set ups that could be used. I find them particularly useful for individuals who are earning a lot more than they spend and are therefore accumulating cash. It can be sheltered from incomes taxes while you put it to work for you.

It effectively allows you to defer the income tax for a period until you acrtually draw it down yourself when it becomes income in your hands and therefore subject to income tax.

If the company are not comfortable receiving an invoice from an Irish company then I suggest you find a managed services company in the Uk who will do the invoivcing for you. Unlike an agency they will not charge a mark up on your rate and tend to just charge a flat fee.