Contract Limited company, Umbrella , PAYE

r1_2010

Hi Guys,

My situation is a little strange. In March this year I finished work with a company I worked for. The plan was to go travelling with a VISA for canada and work in Canada. I filled (i think it was a form P50 since i was supposed to be returning to Ireland by 2011). In May this year I was refunded tax paid for the first 3 months to amount of around 1800.
Fast forward to today, and the working abroad professionally thing has not worked out the way I wanted (basically employers here freak when they see a 1 year working holiday visa and are afraid you will take off some place else). Money is down to nothing and I have had to come back to Ireland and have done interviews and been offered a job.
The thing is.... the job is as an IT contractor. I have only ever worked as a PAYE employee. Assuming a contract rate of 250 euro I was wondering whether I am better going the limited company route or the umbrella company.
In this regard how does my PAYE situation affect my contracting / umbrella/limited company tax situation.
I'm interested to know if anyone has any similar experience... also some advice as to whether I am better off financially working as a PAYE employee.
I have the option of working from home and can work from home in Dublin or Wexford with the requirement that I travel to company headquarters for meetings at least once or twice a week. Assuming for convenience sake I work in Dublin, what sorts of things can i legitimately expense? Am I better of financially making 250 a day as a contractor or as a PAYE employee?

Thanks

r1_2010

TaxingTimes

You really need to take professional advice on this.

Whether to set up a limited company would be based on a lot of issues.
Most IT contractors set up a company or use an umbrella company so as to avail of the tax free mileage allowances and subsistence rates only available to employees or directors.

However, you need to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages before making a decision.