Umbrella Schemes

Who?_me?

I have been asked to register with an umbrella company (giant) who say that I can make all these pre tax saving. Question: I should not be paying tax, as I am under the limit not having worked for 2 years. I will be able to provide a P45, with my tax code on, so how on earth can it benefit me?

HalNico

AFAIK the fact you have been out of work for 2 years doesn't count.Your tax allowance is only for the present tax year .e.g 2012/2013.If you have a P45 you won't pay tax until you hit your limit tho' with luck.
There may be some advantages to using a LTD company but for most people on a fixed rate an Umbrella works well IMHO and you don't have to fill out and end-of-year Self assessment and everything is done for you.Yes you pay the same amount to the Umbrella company if you do 1 hour a 100 but for most people this is not an issue as you/we should be working say 40 hours plus a week if the job is to be worth it anyway.
You can claim up to around £10 a day for food and 42p a mile for fuel and as an employee of the Umbrella company no matter what rate you on you in effect have a pay rate of the minimum wage and only get taxed on the difference after allowances.I have no hesitation in using Umbrella companies as a,"Self Employed" option depending on the job type.In my case it suits me fine.