Budget 2010: And the punchline is…?
Empty rhetoric has been elevated to an art form by Chancellor Alistair Darling, who spun us all a great Budget yarn but failed to deliver a punchline.
Calling time on the agency sector: who ultimately pays for timesheet levies?
A new tax hits contractors. What are HMRC and the Treasury up to now? No, it’s not the usual suspects – it’s the agencies demanding timesheet levies.
Time for re-armament as the clash of online accountants and their critics begins
Has contractor accountancy changed all that much since spreadsheets came into common usage? Online accountancy will drive real change for the better.
IT contractors are first to admit: public sector IT is profitable, but results poor
It doesn’t matter how compliant a system you have, if you build the wrong stuff that doesn’t address the problem, it’s still a waste of money.
Dial-a-Husky: why contractors beat employees when snow and ice hit the roads
Recent bad weather saw many employees not bothering to go into work. But for contractors, being ‘snowbound’ is never an option. Clients, take note!
Contracting 2010 – things can only get better
A contractor-neutral budget, delays to the AWD and some first tiny green shoots mean some contractors may be looking forward to a prosperous New Year.
As in contracting, market forces will solve the British Airways crisis, but at a cost
Market forces mean contractors can’t hold clients to ransom. British Airways cabin crew will learn the same, but at what cost to BA, and the economy?
It’s contracting, Jim, but not as we know it. May the flexiforce be with you…
Enter the ‘flexiforce’. Or is it return of the freelancer? The debate rages over the future of freelancing, and, erm, what we should be called.
Just because contractors are paranoid, doesn’t mean the government isn’t against us!
IR35, Section 660, the Agency Workers Directive and now False Self-Employment in Construction – how much more can non-employees be expected to endure?
The silver lining that is IR35
Without IR35, contractors would not have had many of the positive things we now take for granted in the contracting world.
Could proposed Agency Workers Regulations kick IR35 into touch?
Paradigm shifts in legislation like those proposed by the AWD could make us all look harder than usual at what we do, with often surprising results.
Bob the contractor: ‘Can they do this? Yes they can!’
As contractor disputes with agents and clients increase, contractors keep asking, ‘Can they do this?’. Sadly, the answer is usually, ‘Yes they can!’.
Contractors must be ready to move on if they want rates to move up
When the economy dips, clients expect the same from contractors’ rates. But when things pick up, the story’s different. How do you get the going rate?
IR35 Poker: Is taxman bluffing to force contractors under investigation to cave in?
HMRC plays Texas Hold’em with taxpayers’ money by bluffing a strong hand with high stakes up front in the hope that its true hand is never revealed.
Verbal contracts are not worth the paper they are not written on
As the recession continues and contractors are keen to win new contracts and achieve renewals, it’s more important than ever to get things in writing.
Clients to become champions of IR35-friendly contracts?
The Stringer ruling is the latest in a run of contractor cases placing greater onus on clients to grasp the IR35 nettle. At last!
All contractors under employment status threat in latest construction sector attack
Draconian proposals to force employment status on construction contractors could be the beginning of a full-on attack on all contractors.
Staying outside of IR35 might just have got a bit easier following the Tilson ruling
The Tilson ruling may have opened the floodgates to permtractors seeking employment rights. A side effect might make it easier to stay outside IR35.
Contractor treatments to stop the rot
You get what you pay for, so clients’ penny pinching now will cost them dear in the long run. Treatment is required now to stop the rot setting in.
What’s it to be – contractor or employee?
Following the Alstom v Tilson ruling granting employment rights to a contractor, will permtractors rush to secure their employee benefits?
Contractors and the shocking truth about the Agency Workers Directive
The government, not Europe, proposes using the Agency Workers Directive as a mighty stick to beat contractors with. But YOU can do something about it.
Protectionist policies are not healthy for a flexible free contracting market
Putting barriers in place that prevent the free movement of highly skilled workers damages the very market the barriers are designed to protect.
Contractors: don’t get caught in an IR35 denial trap – start working on a defence now
Contracting sector commentators are increasingly warning of a major and ‘overdue’ IR35 clampdown by HMRC, so don’t let denial leave you in the frame.
Raid on contractors’ pension pots highlights MPs’ double standards
With contractors who have followed government advice and saved for their futures being hit in their pockets, is there no end to our MPs’ hypocrisy?
Are MPs 'wholly, necessarily and exclusively' required to run the country?
HMRC takes no prisoners when applying its rules for dealing with taxpayers’ business expenses. All taxpayers. Except MPs.
Don’t be done over like a dong! Or how contractors can avoid being taken for a ride.
There’s one born every minute, but it doesn’t have to be you! Learning some contracting skills will help you avoid being done over like a dong.
What’s sauce for the contractor goose is a loophole for the MP gander
As government authorises HMRC to spend £1 billion of our money to make us pay more tax, there is a delicious irony in the row over MP’s expenses.
OK, let's replace IR35. But with what exactly?
The debate over repealing and replacing IR35 has fiercely raged in recent weeks, even in the corridors of power, culminating in, erm, nothing.
It is seldom the best contractors who win the best contracts…
It’s a sad fact that highly skilled, experienced contractors are without work because they don’t (or won’t?) understand the contracting sales cycle.
Contracting skills can seriously affect your financial health
Contractors can suffer hugely from a lack of ‘contracting skills’, having a major adverse effect on personal finances, costing up to half a mortgage.