New Contract & Limited Company Set Up

Legacy_user

Hi All,

I am looking for a new contract role and once I secure one will need to set up a Limited Company. My question is would it be easy and cheaper for me to set this up myself or are there any benefits in allowing my accountant to do this? They said they can set one up the same day.

Also the role I've applied for is with a really big organisation however the recruitment agent is very small and although they have a website there is very little information on there. Having only worked through large recruitment companies before I'm a little wary/worried maybe for no reason (this second question maybe better on the jobhunting page)..

vkusuman

Hi,
Its pretty easy to setup a company. Just google for company set up and you would get loads of links. Depending on how much you want to spend, there are lot of options, but the reasonable option I found was for around £46 (1 year ago, should still be the same).
It takes a while before you get the actual certificate(printed one), but you should be able to get the Companies House registration number by the next day.
Many accountants can do this for you for around £100. But its very straighforward thing and you can save yourself some money by doing yourself.

Regarding the second question, IMO its not very important how big the agent is. one important thing is how quick they are paying you for the invoice. In some cases I have seen that it takes a month or two before you get paid.

James_Trimby

Hi as an accountant I am happy with both ways. As I use one of the more expensive agents and get nice folders etc! costs about £200 you can probably do it for about £30-£50 though little paperwork normally

Just have a chat with your accountant about share ownership (ie do you include partner etc (unlikely but ask)
Re VAT/PAYE registration etc total fee can be as high as £500 so if prepared to wade through a few online forms etc you can save yourself a bit and nothing is irreversable at this stage anyway. again use an accountant as a help line and make sure to get copies of everything you do.

Re organisiation size if trying to avoid IR35 need to make sure contracts are set up correctly agent may be okay with this or may be a problem with size, you need to ask and fairly easy to get a second opinion on contract before signing (again accountant should be able to help)
If you are IR 35 able and know it then this should not be a big problem Only thing is if your earning likely to be say £50k plus pa worth looking round at some of the IR35 schemes out there but again take advice as one of the threads here is "Sunday Solutions" where contractors have lost alot of money. (own opinion is dont use umbrella companies etc nor let a scheme sit on your money!) Savings can be large but you do need to fit the criteria.
Hope this helps and good luck James

System

Thanks for your advise, appreciated. I will take a look at Sunday Solutions, have not read this yet. I don't want an umbrella company set up and am a contractor, just would rather use a good accountant to do most things but anything really simple don't mind having a go, am comfortable doing VAT returns etc.

System

vkusuman wrote: »

Hi, Regarding the second question, IMO its not very important how big the agent is. one important thing is how quick they are paying you for the invoice. In some cases I have seen that it takes a month or two before you get paid.

I've just realised I should have pointed out that the agency is "one man", ie the director and that's it.
I've not worked on this basis before and am a little worried, maybe not warranted to be fair but normally agencies\recruitment teams are slightly larger that I am used to dealing with.

It is with regards the IR35 and being payed that worries me a little..