Contracting Role

getmore4less

Some companies will do contract rates(reduced) on PAYE others want arm legth through LTD,Umbrella, not many go for self employed.

Paid holiday or not, all come out of the daily rate.

Try to go for weekly pay/invoicing cuts down the time between working and getting cash in your pocket(can take 2-3 weeks)

the two biggies that you need to factor(you pay for them) are

Employers NI 13.8% over £156 per week
Holiday 12.07% either rolled up(my prefered) or paid as you take them.

then there is the umbrella fee usualy a fixed amount a week

Watch how they do the calcs one I used got them wrong(pennies) and they refused to fix their pay algorthims.

The other thing with umbrela is expenses(t oget tax free money off your rate), some are not that good at getting it right or letting you claim all you can(some probably let you claim more but if it gets caught you end up with the problem)

I put a spreadsheet together for the PAYE using HMRC tables as I started part way through the year I wanted to make sure the tax/NI was correct.

try to remember the basic algorthm.

Day rate.
take off fees and expenses
then factor off the employers NI(based on te gross in the next bit)
that leaves gross pay that you pay tax and NI on.
then you are left with net pay and expenses paid to you.
This can be split how you like for holiday retained or rolled up(Itemized on the pay slip)
The one I uses did, min pay,bonus,holidays

One trick you can use if hitting the NI upper limit(12% down to 2%) roll over expenses so you get a 10% saving on employee NI.

Double daily rate covers all the extras and leaves enough for hte premium of short notice.

As others have said be clear about your possition, don't need to get involved in the politics, can decide when you want days off what hours you do and even working from home if the type of work allows for it.

Within reason you have to judge the culture but if they try to treat you like an employee it can help to point out the risks they take if HMRC decide you are one.

isplumm

getmore4less wrote: »

Within reason you have to judge the culture but if they try to treat you like an employee it can help to point out the risks they take if HMRC decide you are one.

OP shouldn't have to worry about IR35 - he is an employee of the umbrella company.

Mark

getmore4less

It is not IR35 but the implication of a contrived employer.

If the real employer acts like the employer they risk becoming the employer. Much the same as trying to use self employed.

Wyndham

Well, I've got a contract job. Thank you again for all the advice, and onward to my brave new world!