(0258)(0326)
3. For UK readers … Justin
The original was Rupert on the subject (Friday 14) and that’s what Justin is referring to.
2. Housekeeping
Think I need to compile a navguide for “new regulars”, plus occasionals, but not so much for stumble upons … plus revamp Policies in the navbar, which takes you to a single page with all this on it. Shall get onto it now.
(0509) Done! Policies page is revamped.
1. Steve at 1061
- Anti-Trump Defense IT Specialist Arrested For Attempting to Provide Classified Information to Foreign Government
- DHS Reports 1 of 6 Lahaina Wildfire Survivors Were Forced Into Prostitution to Gain Basic Necessities Such as Food and Shelter
- New Round of Peace Negotiations Between Russia and {The] Ukraine To Take Place on Monday in Istanbul
- State Department to Launch ‘Office of Remigration’ to Help Accelerate Mass Deportations
- Moscow Ultimatum For [The] Ukraine, West In Istanbul
- Left-wing pundits refuse to recognise [about] the rape gangs operating in the UK
- US government cancels funding to Moderna for its bird flu vaccine
- Are Incompetent Humans More Dangerous Than AI?
- Much more.
……
JH: Having an issue myself with Steve’s drops, in that I can’t open the 1061 post. That’s all right for me, personally, in that I can go to the dash and get in that way … hence this post item here … but you don’t have that facility … feedback please on whether you can open 1061 or not.
No problem for me. I can also open Steve’s drops.
Can open but it is accompanied by a pop up ad. German, curiously.
……
Ah … in German … important!
1061 opens OK – nothing out of the ordinary.
When IR35 was introduced I could see how it was going and is why I gave up consultancy work and went permie.
It did work out for me OK as I was taken on in a great role by the firm that I was contracted with. They had difficulty with IR35 as well.
IR35 is simply the government increasing the tax take again. No more no less. Bunch of scumbags.
“It did work out for me OK as I was taken on in a great role by the firm that I was contracted with.”
Yes, same here. You’re right about the tax take, but many / all of the large consultancies have pushed hard for IR35 because it hammers their competition (independent contractors), who make them look appallingly expensive and frequently incompetent. To hang numbers on that, the daily rate for a senior software developer for
– large enterprise level clients is about £1500-£2500 per day
– government / ngo / huge multinationals somewhere between £2500-£5000 per day
Rates for independent contractors vary enormously, and there’s usually at least one agency in the middle, but are between £400-£750, averaging around £650 (nb not in the current market, where you’re lucky to have a job). My last rate in 2020 was £550.
Anecdata from a friend, a DBA, who in the mid 90’s was sent over the weekend to rescue Very Large Credit Card provider. They got invoiced £25k for the weekend. He got permie overtime and a meal allowance and said it was the driving factor behind going contracting.
1061 ok with me.
#1 I mainly wrote that for non UK readers, my reason being there’s probably something similar in other countries, e.g. California(AB5), Australia (PSI), Netherlands (DBA), etc. Anyone want to put together a list?
Besides IR35, one of the other debacles is the “Loan Charge”, debated at least twice in The House of Lords. The tl;dr is that many contractors engaged in a loophole, drawing “loans” from their Ltd company instead of salary (because no tax). You’d probably think “well they had it coming then”, and in a lot of cases that’s true, however a) Some of the HMRC approved schemes were retroactively (key point) disallowed and b) in some cases HMRC went back 20+ years. Imagine being retired and in your late 60s / early 70s and being hounded for hundreds of thousands in unpaid tax from a contract you can barely remember.