Contractor Umbrella company - recommendations ?

jgsi
jgsi Posts: 5,062
edited March 2017 in The cake stop
For ease of mind , umbrella companies to take on PAYE etc can take the stress out of short term contracts, or supposed to.
I have just binned off Parasol, where I was sorted of fielded into by the last agency... I just got the feeling was being slightly ripped off... perhaps not slightly ..
Google umbrella companies and you just get pages of adverts.....
Any contractor here can actually recommend a decent and fair minded umbrella?

Just got wind of a 8 week stint for some AD work that is in a complete mess apparently...

Comments

  • florerider
    florerider Posts: 1,112
    you sure you don't want to be IR35 complaint? Looks like you might be giving too much up via an umbrella.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    Quite possibly, but dont want the hassle of worrying about HMRC or getting into trouble with it.... just be nice to have an umbrella that is not overly greedy for running a basic PAYE service.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,484
    An umbrella company is a compromise, and a bad one at that.
    Either go staff with the agency, or go full ltd company and an accountant.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • adlopa
    adlopa Posts: 37
    Take a look at the advice at http://www.contractoruk.com.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,227
    How much are Parasol charging? I used them a long, long time ago, and found them fine. But back then they didn't have to do withhold anything for sick pay, holiday pay etc.

    Much better to have your own company (the money goes straight into a bank account under your control), but if it's only for a few weeks, I can understand why you might not want to.
  • adlopa
    adlopa Posts: 37
    If you're an experienced contractor (i.e. you've been doing it for more than 6 months and intend to carry on doing it), then a LTD makes *much* more sense financially. The admin is trivial with a tool like FreeAgent and, as long as you use an accountant that also uses it, it's a largely painless experience (they just access your data - no form filling required). The financial benefits far outweigh the minor increase in admin if you're on 'typical' contractor day rates. And if you're worried about paying for FreeAgent and an accountant, bear in mind that the reduced tax burden of a LTD far outweighs these small expenses.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,227
    What's FreeAgent? If you've got an accountant and your accounts are simple, you don't need any of that do you?

    And the reduced tax burden is only significant if you are not caught by IR35.

    But contractoruk is the place for all of these answers.
  • adlopa
    adlopa Posts: 37
    edited March 2017
    FreeAgent (https://www.freeagent.com) - cloud accounting software, so you always know what's happening with your accounts, rather than waiting for your accountant to tell you. I can't recommend it highly enough. And yes, if you're inside IR35 then working through a LTD is essentially pointless, but it all depends on how often you change contracts...
  • bigmitch41
    bigmitch41 Posts: 685
    I can recommend Method if you are looking at LTD Company working with FreeAgent.

    http://www.methodaccounting.co.uk/
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