Re: It's over....
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I like that having money "squirreled away" automatically means dodgy money in your mind. When I was a permie I still managed to save money from my income after tax. Why do you assume that contractors have done something wrong?
If we're down the IR35 route then why don't we also get rid of all the tax-avoidance schemes that I've seen companies use for permies:
- bonus schemes, you only pay personal tax on the bonus not NI, company avoids NI
- share options, ditto
- petrol allowance, ditto
- company car, ditto
- salary sacrifice to artificially lower tax paid on pensions
Then lets get permies to pay all their own insurance/holiday/sick pay.
Yes there are contractors that abuse the system. There are also those perfectly legally using the same mechanisms open to *any* company director. In your words "dodgy dividend splitting". There are also permies that screw the system. I've seen far too many retired on the job permies doing f*** all for their salary.
Some of us don't contract to make a fortune - I work in embedded and the mythical 100 grand salary oft quoted on here is just that - a myth. I contract because it gives me a degree of control and so I don't have to go cap in hand to a fuckwit manager to get a day off. I also get a choice in what I work on and anything that I develop that is not directly for a customer is my IP not my employers. So don't lump all contractors together as abusing the system and I won't lump permies together as work-shy and bitter.
When the dust settles on the IR35 changes it will turn out to make fuck all difference to the tax revenue raised but it will cause companies extra costs for no benefit to them. The beneficiaries of this will be the big body shops hiring out staff for a pittance at an exorbitant fee, offshore outsourcing companies and umbrella companies.
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