Contract Xchange

littleange

What is a Business Number?

taffy056

littleange_com wrote: »

What is a Business Number?

Don't know I think its an american thing you need for working over there, all you need to get here is a vat number, and your tax number and thats it.

Simon_M_2

Sorry there is a lot of BS being talked on this thread:

1: If you are VAT registered you have to do a quarterly VAT return. The only VAT you can reclaim in this job is the cost of a business phone line, ask for the monthly cost of this, you will be surprised. A VAT return will also cost you a lot of money at an accountants and you have to keep records for five years. If you are VAT registered and a SOLE Trader you have to charge VAT on ANY income, unless you are a director of a limited company (more expense), so if you have a part time job or any other paid income you can kiss goodbye to approx 15% of your wages as you will have to invoice for your time plus VAT, the VAT element is not yours to keep. So for example if you earn £10 per hour in your other job you will have to invoice at £8.51 plus VAT, the remaining £1.49 goes to the tax man.
2: You cannot claim back the full costs of your expenses, for example you can only claim a minimal amount for using a home office, around £2 per week, if you claim more, you may be liable to paying business rates link: http://www.bytestart.co.uk/content/taxlegal/9_6/home-office-expense-claim.shtml
You cannot reclaim the full amount of anything related to the business, for example you buy a new PC at £300, this is classed as an asset, i.e. you could sell it at a later date for £150, therefore it only cost you £150. The government allows you to write down these assets from your tax bill, I don’t have the figures to hand but it is a lot less than you think.


All in all it seems like a huge scam to me, you have to pay for training, equipment, a new phone line, possibly a new PC, and monthly subscriptions all based on the fact that you get paid £1.20 per call.

BTW for any doubters to the above I have run a VAT registered business from home for the past five years and the OH is an accountant.

[FONT=&quot]Cheers Simon[/FONT]

sadie11

Simon_M wrote: »

Sorry there is a lot of BS being talked on this thread:

1: If you are VAT registered you have to do a quarterly VAT return. The only VAT you can reclaim in this job is the cost of a business phone line, ask for the monthly cost of this, you will be surprised. A VAT return will also cost you a lot of money at an accountants and you have to keep records for five years. If you are VAT registered and a SOLE Trader you have to charge VAT on ANY income, unless you are a director of a limited company (more expense), so if you have a part time job or any other paid income you can kiss goodbye to approx 15% of your wages as you will have to invoice for your time plus VAT, the VAT element is not yours to keep. So for example if you earn £10 per hour in your other job you will have to invoice at £8.51 plus VAT, the remaining £1.49 goes to the tax man.
2: You cannot claim back the full costs of your expenses, for example you can only claim a minimal amount for using a home office, around £2 per week, if you claim more, you may be liable to paying business rates link: http://www.bytestart.co.uk/content/taxlegal/9_6/home-office-expense-claim.shtml
You cannot reclaim the full amount of anything related to the business, for example you buy a new PC at £300, this is classed as an asset, i.e. you could sell it at a later date for £150, therefore it only cost you £150. The government allows you to write down these assets from your tax bill, I don’t have the figures to hand but it is a lot less than you think.


All in all it seems like a huge scam to me, you have to pay for training, equipment, a new phone line, possibly a new PC, and monthly subscriptions all based on the fact that you get paid £1.20 per call.

BTW for any doubters to the above I have run a VAT registered business from home for the past five years and the OH is an accountant.

[FONT=&quot]Cheers Simon[/FONT]

Not sure if I really understand this but it looks to me as if you are saying if you have another part time job you will have to pay VAT on your earnings

Why would you have to pay VAT on those earnings if the earning are not on a self employed basis????

I have been following this thread with interest not applied yet and would not willing to give up my part time employment as if this did not work I would be without any income. Don't see why I should be taxed again on my other job though.

IainLaff

Couple of questions.

1. Does anyone know the phone number or email address of contractxhange, i am consistently failing the belarc hardware test but i am not being told why, it is a fairly high spec laptop and i need to know why it is failing.

2. The role requires you to cross sell appropiate British Gas products and for doing this i believe you recieve a comission. Is this comission the only monies you recieve or is this an extra to the monies you recieve for taking the call. In short is this a purely sales comission paid job?

On another note, i have spoken to both the self employed and VAT departments and they have reassured me on a number of occasions that any money earned through employed jobs have already had the taxes deducted and therefore would not be liable for extra taxes or VAT deductions. It is purely any money earned through self employed business or contracts.

Thanks for the help with my questions.

Iain

selyoh

When I failed a belarc test I clicked on live help and asked why and got a immediate reply (needed more memory).

The pay is £1.20 per incoming call plus any sales you make.

mstopham

IainLaff wrote: »

On another note, i have spoken to both the self employed and VAT departments and they have reassured me on a number of occasions that any money earned through employed jobs have already had the taxes deducted and therefore would not be liable for extra taxes or VAT deductions. It is purely any money earned through self employed business or contracts.

Thanks for that Iain. I didn't think paying VAT on any income when you are already paying PAYE sounded right. I had been looking around the net to find clarification but I guess there aren't that many folks doing a full time PAYE job and also self employed and VAT registered.

In answer to your questions and from my experience in previous CSR roles I would expect that you should aim for about 10 minutes a call by the end of your first month without worrying about sales (£7.20 an hour) then something like 8 minutes a call with sales where you feel comfortable after 2 months (around £9-£10 an hour). Then after 3 months aim to be hitting targets of 5 minutes a call and selling whenever you can (£10-£15 an hour).

IainLaff

Thanks for the answers.

i managed to get the number for them, i am using a laptop and the screen is 15.4" screen and you need a 17" monitor.

i am waiting with baited breath as to wether they will provide me with the free desktop.

Iain

sadie11

IainLaff wrote: »

Couple of questions.

On another note, i have spoken to both the self employed and VAT departments and they have reassured me on a number of occasions that any money earned through employed jobs have already had the taxes deducted and therefore would not be liable for extra taxes or VAT deductions. It is purely any money earned through self employed business or contracts.

Thanks for the help with my questions.

Iain

Thanks for that Iain, Think that answers one of my questions..
Will just hang around for a while and see how people that have already started work with them go on.
I am in the process of starting something simular with someone else who will pay for instalation of extra phone line, accountant,etc for first 12 months, so don't want too many irons in the fire at the moment.

capitan19792000

As per my previous post, I was told that I was eligible for a 'Free PC' and to expect a contract in the post to sign and send back; This I was told last Tuesday (30/09/08), but as of today I still hadn't received anything. So I went back onto the online chat and was told that I was not eligible for the 'Free PC' because the only reason I failed the spec test was because my Wireless Network Card was enabled????? I was obviously flumexed to why I had not been told this prior, instead of wasting a week thinking I was going to get a new PC. Anyhow I have re-done my Belarc test, with wireless card disabled - fingers crossed it will pass!

I must admit ContractxChange don't make this very easy; I'm seriously considering telling them to poke it, as its just one thing after another, with more and more hoops to jump through!