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Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

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Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#31

Post by peteretep »

dspillett wrote: post #20
peteretep wrote: post #8

> You should have savings to cover at least 4 months of > your usual expenses. You will spend some money > establishing a company. It may take several weeks to > find your first contract. If you wanted to be extra safe, sure. I made the switch when I was heavily in debt, and it helped me get out of debt, so YMMV. > A service like www.formationsfactory.co.uk will make the > incorporation process easy. Actually it's su…

> Most permanent jobs have a 4 week notice period Really? In experienced level dev jobs? Most of the people I know are on two months notice. Three months, which is what I'm tied to, doesn't seem uncommon for senior devs/DBAs/similar.

That's been my experience when hiring people. I only hired one person with a 12 week notice, everyone else was 4 weeks. YMMV, I guess.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#32

Post by peteretep »

kozhevnikov wrote: post #26
majc2 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on what your strategy is and the specifics of your situation. http://www.contractoruk.com/money/ifas_guide_avoiding_new_di... has a generic guide about the new dividend tax. IMHO, just get an accountant.

I have a popular one, and they are rubbish. I'm on my first contract and I have no idea what I'm doing tax-wise. After £10.6k in salary they say one could take £28.5k in dividends before higher tax kicks in. So what do people do with the rest? Accept hight tax or leave it in business bank account and wait for next tax year?

You can stick £40k in your pension as an employer contribution...

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#33

Post by jchomali »

peteretep wrote: post #8

> You should have savings to cover at least 4 months of > your usual expenses. You will spend some money > establishing a company. It may take several weeks to > find your first contract. If you wanted to be extra safe, sure. I made the switch when I was heavily in debt, and it helped me get out of debt, so YMMV. > A service like www.formationsfactory.co.uk will make the > incorporation process easy. Actually it's su…

I totally agree

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#34

Post by peteretep »

colinramsay wrote: post #24
peteretep wrote: post #8

> You should have savings to cover at least 4 months of > your usual expenses. You will spend some money > establishing a company. It may take several weeks to > find your first contract. If you wanted to be extra safe, sure. I made the switch when I was heavily in debt, and it helped me get out of debt, so YMMV. > A service like www.formationsfactory.co.uk will make the > incorporation process easy. Actually it's su…

Does anyone have any experience with a company like Giant or similar? Do they allow contractors who remote work?

People I know who've worked with them are pretty happy. They've got a reputation for being super super responsive, too, so email or ring them and ask?

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#35

Post by peteretep »

yetanotheracc wrote: post #30

What are the benefits of incorporating an Ltd vs being a sole trader?

There are significant tax savings, and theoretically limited liability. The significant tax savings will change next tax year with changes in dividend taxes and NIC contributions. No-one is really sure of the actual impact at this point.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#36

Post by cjrp »

colinramsay wrote: post #24
peteretep wrote: post #8

> You should have savings to cover at least 4 months of > your usual expenses. You will spend some money > establishing a company. It may take several weeks to > find your first contract. If you wanted to be extra safe, sure. I made the switch when I was heavily in debt, and it helped me get out of debt, so YMMV. > A service like www.formationsfactory.co.uk will make the > incorporation process easy. Actually it's su…

Does anyone have any experience with a company like Giant or similar? Do they allow contractors who remote work?

They're just a middle-man who invoices on your behalf and pays you based on that. Using someone like Giant you're ceding a lot of the financial (tax) advantages of contracting though, since you pay tax as a PAYE employee.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#37

Post by [deleted] »

colinramsay wrote: post #24
peteretep wrote: post #8

> You should have savings to cover at least 4 months of > your usual expenses. You will spend some money > establishing a company. It may take several weeks to > find your first contract. If you wanted to be extra safe, sure. I made the switch when I was heavily in debt, and it helped me get out of debt, so YMMV. > A service like www.formationsfactory.co.uk will make the > incorporation process easy. Actually it's su…

Does anyone have any experience with a company like Giant or similar? Do they allow contractors who remote work?

[deleted]

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#38

Post by peteretep »

colinramsay wrote: post #17

This is the easy bit. Finding quality, well paid work, that's the hard bit. It renders all the rest of it a bit irrelevant.

My experience (and that of many coworkers I've had) - unless you've really pissed in the pool, there is an unending supply of good contracts in London.

Re: Becoming a contractor programmer in the UK

#40

Post by tom-lord »

dspillett wrote: post #20
peteretep wrote: post #8

> You should have savings to cover at least 4 months of > your usual expenses. You will spend some money > establishing a company. It may take several weeks to > find your first contract. If you wanted to be extra safe, sure. I made the switch when I was heavily in debt, and it helped me get out of debt, so YMMV. > A service like www.formationsfactory.co.uk will make the > incorporation process easy. Actually it's su…

> Most permanent jobs have a 4 week notice period Really? In experienced level dev jobs? Most of the people I know are on two months notice. Three months, which is what I'm tied to, doesn't seem uncommon for senior devs/DBAs/similar.

It's also worth noting that (at least in the UK) such notice periods are not legally binding.

You can only be forced to give a notice period up to your payroll pay frequency. So for example, if you get paid monthly then you cannot be sued for failing to give > 1 month's notice!

... But of course, most people will still honour their company's "3 month notice" (or whatever) period out of good faith, as it's generally a good idea not to burn bridges.

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