Umbrella Company compliance – A consultation paper on Umbrella Company Compliance was left inactive in last years budget, with the Govt deciding to keep watching the industry. Could this be the moment to redefine Temporary workplaces or Overarching Contracts of employment ?
Income Shifting – The original consultation on Income Shifting was put back on the shelf a few years ago, but it never went away. There may have been a reason for that.
Tax Thresholds – With the pressure on raising taxes all too apparent the temptation to reduce the upper 50% tax threshold to catch more tax payers may be too much.
Whatever Mr Darling comes up with, we should not expect anything too generous for Contractors, and there is a fair chance that there will be less drama rather than more!
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( 3 / 189 )The Bank of England have again held the base rate at 0.50%, as they strive to steer the UK economy out of recession with the help of the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
Last month the FSA took an initial step towards this by announcing new proposals that included a ban on Self-Cert Mortgages.
Self-certification mortgages, also dubbed liar loans, accounted for one third of new loans in 2007, or about GBP100 billion of the GBP300 billion loans granted that year.
The FSA argue that mortgages that don’t require any proof of income have been abused during the property boom with many people borrowing more than they could afford to repay. This theory has been backed up by the collapse of Bradford & Bingley and the sale of HBOS to LloydsTSB, both HBOS and B&B were among the biggest self-cert lenders.
Additionally, Platform, one of the few remaining self-cert providers, has announced that it will withdraw from the self-cert market at the end of this week.
David Tweedy, managing director, at Platform, says: “The FSA Mortgage Market review paper has shown that continuing to offer self certification mortgages in its current format is unfeasible and after careful deliberation of the paper, Platform has now taken the decision to withdraw from the self certification market.”
Self Certification Mortgages were designed for workers who have trouble proving their income in a conventional manner such as contractors, freelancers, self employed, and company directors.
Many contractors and freelance workers will now be concerned on how they go about securing a mortgage that takes all of their income into consideration once the expensive self-cert option has been removed.
Reading on the Guardian Money forum many contractors are worried about the proposed ban "Banning self-certification might make nice headlines, but where does that leave those of us who are contractors or self employed?" said Lookingbusy
"I'd love to meet one of these people who borrowed irresponsibly on a self-cert mortgage. I've had two self-certs in the past and both times I had to provide detailed accounts and bank statements, pretty much what the FSA says it's now going to insist on. I also paid a whopping rate of interest," said Zephirine. "Recent trends in business practice mean vast numbers of people – who would previously have been in long-term employment – now work on short contracts or are classed as self-employed. Mortgage lending has to take account of this."
Firstly Contractors need to realise that self-cert mortgages were never the only option, in fact Self-Cert’s are an unnecessary and expensive route for a contractor to take.
Any credible contractor specific mortgage broker would never advise a contract worker to take the Self-Cert route. As long as you have a valid contract in place with an end client they should be able to work with senior underwriters to secure you a mortgage based on your contract rate, thereby taking all of your income into consideration.
Specialist contractor mortgage brokers are able to secure mortgages with high street lenders and at high street rates, giving you access to the same whole of market mortgages that are available to borrowers who are able to prove their income in the traditional way.
If you need any advice on Mortgages please let us know so that we can steer you to a quality company who understands the market and your needs.
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( 3 / 156 )European sales. Currently, if your business is VAT-registered and you sell goods to other businesses in the European Union (EU), you must report details of sales you make to the Taxman. This is done using the European sales List (ESL) (VAT 101) which should accompany your VAT return.
At present it’s not necessary to report the sale of services, but things are about to change.
All change. From January 1 2010 an ESL will also need to be completed by businesses that sell certain types of service to customers in the EU.
The services affected are those that are treated as being supplied to the country your customer belongs to.
We will complete your EC sales list if you have any as part of the service.
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( 3 / 159 )New isa limit. The isa regulations are being amended from October 6 2009, effectively doubling the tax-free investment limit for individuals who’ll be aged 50 or over by April 5 2010. For this age group, it will rise to £10,200.
Tip. Our advice is don’t go rushing into an isa to take advantage of the new limit. At the moment interest is low but there are signs that things might change over the next few months.
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( 3 / 101 )National Freelancers Day has been established by PCG to gain wider recognition for the contribution that freelancers, consultants, interims and contractors make to the UK economy:
•Highlighting this flexible, agile and expert community to UK businesses, showing how to engage and work with freelancers effectively
•Celebrating Freelancing as a valid career choice, highlighting the community and support network
•Emphasising that to unlock the full potential of freelancing, Government must recognise that freelancers are in business and entitled to clear and fair taxation laws
On National Freelancers Day, PCG is launching a Manifesto for Freelancers at a reception in Westminster and a number of evening networking events are taking place across the UK. The centre piece of the day is a webcast on the future of work in which a select group of experts will look ahead to 2020, examining how the concept of freelancing is likely to develop within the changing business world.
Show your support for National Freelancers Day and visit the website, register to attend the online webcast (http://www.nationalfreelancersday.org.uk/cms/special-webcast) and
seek out your local networking event (http://www.nationalfreelancersday.org.uk/cms/local-events-on-the-day) to participate in the discussion on the day.
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