starting a new job as a contractor , should i go for an umbrella company

eoinf

Hi
I am due to start a new job as a contractor on Monday. The company has suggested I use an umbrella/management company to handle all the paper work.The only thing is the company are charging 5% for not doing a whole lot by the looks of things. I was wondering can I just set myself up as my own company and handle all my own paper work?
Has anyone done this before? Is it hard to do ,would I just be better off paying the 5% to save my self some headaches?

One other thing the company has suggested that in order to sign a contract i must have everything in place by monday morning. Would it be possible to register myself as a company by then?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

is_that_so

You can do it yourself but you would probably have to set a company anyway.
You'd also have to take care of PAYE, VAT and anything else. As well as this there is the legal requirement to publish annual accounts.

The Hill Billy

OP - I'd get quotes from a number of umbrella companies. Personally I'd go for one that charged a flat rate for their services. Paying a percentage allows them to make more (the more you earn) for providing the same level of service.

eoinf

im not too bothered about handling the account sides of things have a few freinds in the right places that could prob help with that.

cheers for the advice.

how ould i go about registering my own company ? any idea how long it would take ? are there any fees involved?

The Hill Billy

Here's a list of Company Formations companies from GoldenPages.ie. They'll be able to set a company up for you.

Should cost you a few hundred euro to get one set up. It only takes a matter of days.