Contractors can better navigate IR35 with new online employment status tool
Contractors concerned about their IR35 status for the first time now have access to a free online employment status tool available from ContractorCalculator.co.uk. It provides a reliable and highly accurate interpretation of IR35 and employment status. ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin, who wrote the sophisticated software in collaboration with IR35 experts Qdos Consulting says: “Evaluating employment status has always been complex, but we’re making it simple with a free, easy-to-use tool. Contractors are given a very clear answer, based on the latest case law and the result of the test will, for the first time, help them to make confident decisions about their contracts and tax affairs.” More…
Contractor accountant tops 2,200 clients as headcount leaps to 50
Contractor accountant ClearSky Accounting has gone from 33 to 50 team members in just six months, with its client base surging to over 2,200. The firm’s headcount includes 10 chartered accountants working alongside dedicated account managers, tax specialists and support staff. “There are currently 140 contractors each month who are turning to ClearSky to help them set up and manage their business,” explains Managing Director Derek Kelly, “[and we are] taking them through every stage of the business life cycle, from inception onwards, and assisting them in ensuring they are operating [in] the most compliant and efficient way possible.” More…
IR35 successor provides immense challenge for the OTS
The Office of Tax Simplification faces a huge challenge to provide contractors with a replacement for IR35 that will remove the uncertainties of contractor and freelancer tax and employment status. ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin, who has completed extensive research on IR35 scenarios with IR35 experts Qdos Consulting, explains that employment status is highly complex: “The practical issue is that there is superficially very little to differentiate a genuine contractor with a single concurrent client from a ‘perm-tractor’ who really should be viewed as an employee.” More…
PCG supports contractors with £45,800 payout
Seven contractors who joined PCG’s Plus Membership scheme have benefitted from a £45,800 payout by PCG’s insurers when their agencies defaulted on fee payments. The scheme includes a range of insurances, including tax investigation insurance to cover the cost of professional fees arising from an IR35 investigation and, crucially for the seven contractors affected, ‘Agency failure and default insurance’, which enables PCG Plus members to claim for loss of earnings if an agency goes bust and cannot pay. More…
Construction contractors benefit from uplift in economic output
Construction contractors were the primary beneficiaries of the surprise uplift in UK economic growth in the second quarter of 2010. According to a revised forecast by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 1.2%, revised up from 1.1% and including a whopping 8.5% rise in construction output. The business services and finance sectors, major consumers of IT contractors, also increased output by 1.5%, although other sections of the economy fell, including transport and communications. More…
Manufacturing recovery slows
Despite a slow-down in the growth of the manufacturing sector to a nine-month low, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS)/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) shows continued growth in worker demand. This is good news for the engineering, technical and IT contractors supporting the sector. Despite a cooling in activity, Markit Senior Economist and Manufacturing PMI author Rob Dobson says there are still positive signs: “Most indicators are still consistent with growth continuing, further job creation was recorded and, although the intermediate and consumer sectors are cooling, the capital goods sector accelerated, which suggests that investment spending is still supporting growth.” More…
Retail supply chain contractors reassured by rising high street sales
The latest CBI quarterly Distributive Trades Survey has revealed that high street sales grew in July and August, compared to last year’s figures. Contractors in retail and the retail supply chain will benefit from strong forecast sales for the next quarter, the highest since July 2007. Business sentiment is the strongest since May 2004 and, for the first time since February 2004, the sector has not experienced falling worker numbers. More…