An estimated 250,000+ Contractors are going to be affected by the arrival of potentially the most important Budget for Contractors since the IR35 legislation was implemented.
Last November 2006 Gordon Brown announced that he intends to introduce landmark changes to tackle tax avoidance schemes offered to UK Contractors by certain Managed Service Companies.
Although these changes in legislation may not come as a surprise to the tax savvy Contractor, many more lesser-informed Contractors could be dramatically affected without even being made aware of the effects of this new legislation.
Budget Affects Survey Launched
To help the Contracting industry realise the true effects of this new legislation, we have today launched an independent Budget Effects survey designed to shed light on the level of understanding that exists of the new legislation amongst Contractors.
Dave Chaplin, founder of ContactorCalculator.co.uk says “As an independent resource site whose objective is to continually keep Contractors objectively informed of anything that affects them, we have become increasingly concerned that the importance of this new legislation has been missed by many Contractors. We recently witnessed an increase in traffic to our Managed Service Companies content and we have received many emails from Contractors asking for advice on their individual circumstances. This activity has demonstrated that there are potentially tens of thousands of Contractors out there who are not yet fully prepared for the impending changes in the Budget."
The survey asks three important questions, and is designed to be quick to complete - only 30 seconds. Chaplin comments “We want to get maximum insight from this survey, but we realise that Contractors are too busy to complete a mountain of questions. This is why we highlighted 3 primary areas that we need to understand more in order to write engaging Budget content.”
We will be publishing the full survey results on-line shortly after the Budget, enabling Contractors to understand how reflective their individual circumstances are across the market as a whole. “Contracting can be a very isolating occupation, and Contractors don’t always get the opportunity to compare notes with other Contractors. The results of this survey are not only useful for us to improve the content we write, but will also make very insightful reading for the participants themselves – there will be benefits on many levels for all who participate in this very short survey.” Says Chaplin.
The survey is online now and can be accessed by following this link: Budget Survey - click here.
Dedicated Resource Area
To help contractors become more informed we have built a dedicated resource area on ContractorCalculator.co.uk for anyone wanting to learn more about these changes in legislation. We are also planning to create even more visitor focused content for the Budget period to support Contractors and users of MSC’s.
An additional feature released today is our Managed Service Company Legislation Calculator which contractor can use to establish if they are affected by the legislation, and how much the likely financial impact on them is going to be.
Managed Service Companies - Dedicated Resource Area
Budget News - As IT Happens
We will also be keeping our readers completely informed of all the Contractor relevant Budget activity with complete coverage via our news channel, including a special post budget NewsCast containing a full analysis of all the budget changes that will be affecting Contractors in 2007/08 and beyond.
You can subscribe to the NewsCast for free by completing the Budget Effects Survey and following the on-screen instructions.