Contractors face loss of expenses tax relief from government consultation
Limited company and umbrella company contractors face losing tax relief on travel and subsistence expenses according to new government consultation, The Employment Intermediaries: Temporary workers – relief for travel and subsistence costs. According to Freelancer and Contractor Services Association CEO Julia Kermode, the consultation already reads like a done deal: “The government’s consultation only offers two options that both say stop the tax benefits of travel and subsistence for contractors.” More...
Contractors using subcontractors face draconian new regulations, warns IPSE
Contractors who subcontract work to other contractors and freelancers face draconian new reporting requirements and face fines of up to £3,000 for non-compliance. According to the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE), the new draft reporting regulations follow the ‘onshore intermediaries’ or False Self-Employment legislation introduced in April 2014. They will require contractors to report detailed personal information on their subcontractors to HMRC on a quarterly basis. More...
Contractor hiring dominates Scotland’s labour market during November
Contractor hiring outpaced the rate of permanent hiring during November 2014. The latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs also highlights that contractor vacancy and rate increased coupled with falling candidate numbers means now would be a good time for a permie to take the leap into contracting. The core contracting disciplines feature highly in Scotland’s demand league table, with IT & computing in second place, engineering and construction in third place and accounting and financial taking fifth place. More...
Contractors likely to remain unaffected by the OTS expenses consultation response
Limited company and umbrella company contractors are likely to remain unaffected the government response to the latest set of consultations on expenses conducted by the Office for Tax Simplification (OTS). Freelancer and Contractor Services Association CEO Julia Kermode believes that the consultation, Employee Benefits and Expenses – exemption for paid or reimbursed expenses, is largely contractor neutral. However, she highlights that a resulting focus on non-compliant umbrellas who hire contractors on a salary sacrifice basis should expose less scrupulous service providers. More...
Oil and gas contractors face second round of rate cuts by Wood Group
Oil and gas contractors in contract with client Wood Group PSN face the second 10% rate cut in a year. Citing falling oil prices, Wood Group told BBC News that over 1,300 UK-based contractors are likely to be affected. In a move to retain hard to source skills, the client also says it will also offer permanent roles to some contractors. “These measures have not been taken lightly, but we believe they are required in light of the cost and efficiency challenges affecting the UK North Sea oil and gas sector,” notes Wood Group PSN managing director Dave Stewart. More...
Financial and IT contractors benefit from ongoing financial sector hiring growth
Financial and IT contractors continue to benefit from the UK financial sector’s recovery as vacancies in London’s financial centre grew by 4% year-on-year during November 2014. The latest Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor shows a seasonal slowdown month-on-month, but hiring has steadily trended upwards. This benefits both financial contractors directly and financial IT contractors, as the financial sector is the largest consumer of their services outside of the software industry. More...
Financial contractors losing out to IT contractors as banks increase outsourcing
Less positive news for financial contractors, despite Morgan McKinley’s findings, is the loss of financial roles as a result of banks increasing their outsourcing and using IT solutions to replace staff. Computer Weekly’s Karl Flinders writes that: “The number of jobs in the financial services sector has declined 16% since 2009 while the number of staff employed by IT firms has increased 13.9%, partly because banks are using more IT.” He cites analysis that shows that: “In 2009 there were 403,000 jobs in the IT sector compared to 459,000 this year. In comparison, financial services jobs have fallen from 1.18m in 2009 to 986,000 today.” More...
Contractors can use ‘recruitment calendar’ to identify optimum times to find contracts
Contractors can identify the optimal times to search for contracts by using a new ‘recruitment calendar’ published by recruiter Executives Online. The agency has analysed ten years of recruitment data to identify when to, and when not to, go searching for contracts. Unsurprisingly, December and August are the worst time to look for contract work, but the contract market is subject to lower levels of fluctuation when compared to the permanent recruitment market. More...
Contractors banking with BoS & Lloyds will receive FreeAgent as part of their service
Contractors banking with Lloyds Banking Group who choose the Bank of Scotland’s new Business Toolkit will receive a subscription to online accounting software FreeAgent as part of the deal. The Daily Record’s Scott McCulloch writes that the arrangement is designed to help contractors manage their business more effectively. Ed Molyneux, co-founder and chief executive of FreeAgent told McCulloch that: “FreeAgent already helps more than 35,000 small businesses and self-employed people to manage their bookkeeping and stay on top of their business finances - so it’s great that Bank of Scotland has recognised the importance of cloud technology and how it can make a huge difference.” More...
Contractors urged by HMRC to register for self-assessment (SA) now
Contractors who are relatively new to contracting and have never before completed a self-assessment tax return are being urged by the taxman to register now, or to ensure they have an accountant to complete registration and their tax return on their behalf. The deadline for individuals to submit self-assessment tax returns is 31 January 2015 for the 2013-2014 tax/financial year. This is also the deadline for paying any tax owed. Failure to complete a return and pay tax will result in an automatic fine. More...