Umbrella Companies

Re: Umbrella Companies

Anne Seawright — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 00:01:00 GMT

[quote user="Neil Wheadon"]

I've just done the Ltd company switch and am wondering why I didn't do it earlier.

A figure that may be of interest is that below £24000 per annum it's worth staying self employed as you have to pay an accountant and bank fees. Above that it starts to make a difference

Neil

[/quote] And you can find quite a few business bank accounts that don't charge fees for the first few years.

Re: Umbrella Companies

scarlet — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 21:26:55 GMT

definitely go down the company route. as previously said - the vat you keep covers the cost of your accountant. all you have to do is issue invoices and the accountant does the rest, simples. ! i've been doing it for a few years now.

Re: Umbrella Companies

Neil Wheadon — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 20:14:16 GMT

I've just done the Ltd company switch and am wondering why I didn't do it earlier.

A figure that may be of interest is that below £24000 per annum it's worth staying self employed as you have to pay an accountant and bank fees. Above that it starts to make a difference

Neil

Re: Umbrella Companies

CatherineThomas — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 16:17:31 GMT

[quote user="Gerry Henry"]Since you would have virtually no input tax I'm struggling to see the logic of this, what have I missed?[/quote]

You charge 20% VAT but only pay 11% VAT. But it does mean that you can't claim back the VAT on purchases. That's how my accountant explained it to me anyway.

My accountant does all of the paperwork for me. I just have to produce invoices for the work I do and send the accountant all of my receipts and invoices. He then calculates it all and tells me how much to pay. He does my personal tax returns too. If you have a good accountant it's pretty simple to do, he set up the company for me too, I just had to decide on the company name and open a company bank account.

Re: Umbrella Companies

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 14:00:35 GMT

[quote user="Gerry Henry"]Since you would have virtually no input tax I'm struggling to see the logic of this, what have I missed?[/quote]

The "flat rate" decided upon by HMRC for veterinary locums has been made too favourable to the locum... as someone has suggested, HMRC have possibly thought that locums have similar outgoings to a veterinary practice. So the locum charges VAT on their fee but gets to pocket quite a lot of it. It's a loophole that will probably be closed eventually, but while it's legal why not make full use of it?

Re: Umbrella Companies

Gerry Henry — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 11:17:58 GMT

[quote user="Yantha Smyth"]Ltd company basically means you get more money than umbrella, have independence, and the accountants take care of all the finances so there is no stress with that side of it. You can even be VAT registered under the flat rate scheme, and that more than offsets the cost of an accountant.

[/quote]

Since you would have virtually no input tax I'm struggling to see the logic of this, what have I missed?

Re: Umbrella Companies

Richard Carter — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 09:32:12 GMT

being a Ltd company means you have to have an accountant, self employed you can DIY your return which if it is just fees, insurance, CPD and travel shouldn't be too difficult. NI and vehicle rates and calculators are on government websites

In a Ltd co you can get some savings by decreasing you NI bill, the company is taxed at a lower rate than private individuals and you pay yourself a dividend (already taxed in company) so if a higher rate tax payer, you only pay 20% tax. You also get slight protection from losing your personal things if something happens to the company as it is a separate legal entity.

If you not earning enough then the cost of an accountant may mean being self employed until you start to reach higher tax thresholds when the accountants will be able to offset various costs

Re: Umbrella Companies

Nicola Cole — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 00:06:04 GMT

Not answering your question as such but just as a few words of encouragement on the accounting front-the accounting for being self employed is amazingly straightforward and you don't lose any of your money to an umbrella company!

Re: Umbrella Companies

Anne Seawright — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 23:51:44 GMT

Being a ltd company doesn't mean you have to do any of the financial side of things. Accountants will do it all for you, and when I looked in to it about 6 months ago, for cheaper than an umbrella company.

Re: Umbrella Companies

Yantha Smyth — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 22:45:04 GMT

Ltd company basically means you get more money than umbrella, have independence, and the accountants take care of all the finances so there is no stress with that side of it. You can even be VAT registered under the flat rate scheme, and that more than offsets the cost of an accountant.

Re: Umbrella Companies

An On MRCVS — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 21:34:15 GMT

I've looked into it but the simple answer is that I don't want to - would rather know that someone else is sorting all the finance stuff for me so I can concentrate on the bit I actually do well instead of stressing about the things I know I am not so good with

Re: Umbrella Companies

Neil Wheadon — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 19:54:06 GMT

Why not simply set yourself up as a Ltd company rather than an Umbrella company. The only reason may be because you won't earn enough to warrant an accountant yourself in a year and although I can't be certain whoever runs the umbrella company will be charging as well as the accountant? Neil