Contracting through Umbrella Company -which one to use

kate156

Hello
I have just been offered an initial 6 month contract and need to join an umbrella company, I am considering ICON accounting ,If anyone is using them can they advise if they would reccomend them or are happy with other service providers..

I am 100% new to contracting as always have been a permanent employee and so this all new to me.

many thanks
Kate.

kate156

Hello
I have just been offered an initial 6 month contract and need to join an umbrella company, I am considering ICON accounting ,If anyone is using them can they advise if they would reccomend them or are happy with other service providers..

I am 100% new to contracting as always have been a permanent employee and so this all new to me.

many thanks
Kate.

srsly78

Don't bother with umbrella, just do it yourself. Can you go as sole trader? If not, it costs e100 to setup a limited company. You will have to make various returns via www.ros.ie over the year, but in my experience the umbrella company does NOT save you work. With the umbrella you will have to retain receipts for expenses etc and mail them off to umbrella every month. Doing things yourself you have a lot more freedom about how to manage things (within revenue rules ofc), and there is no mailing off receipts all the time.

kate156

Srsly78
thank you for taking the time to reply. I am hoping to join an umbrella company as I would like to continue paying class A prsi , there is no guarantee that the contract will continue past the 6 month point,

However I will look into the sole trader option , although most likely will try the umbrella option as it is my first contract.

kate156

shoegirl

I use CXC, can't complain. Some of my last colleagues used Prima and found them ok.
CXC charge 1% and apparently the difference there is that they are happy to invoivce and pay you more frequently at no extra charge. They also fully explained the PRSI and company director options which my Prima colleagues seemed to know nothing about.

A good accountant can do the same thing. The only problem you might have with doing it yourself is calculating VAT correctly and doing the invoicing yourself. Also you'd need to write up a proper contract each time.

If you think the DIY option is great, a friend of mine contracted for 5 years and got to the point of having 5 others working for her. 2 years after she stopped she got a bill for unpaid VAT for 40k and ended up losing her house. Be very careful about doing it yourself, small mistakes can cost you dearly.

twilight_singer

In the same boat myself op, decided to go with fenero http://www.fenero.ie/
For what its worth I think all the umbrella companys do the same thing pretty much. I decided to go with fenero as they charge 85 euro per month flat rate where as cxc charge 5%. you will also need to find out if you need to take out public liability insurance, I do for my job so the umbrella company take out an extra fiver a month to cover this for me. whoever you decide to go with dont forget to keep all business related expense receipts and send them in to your umbrella company monthly so that they can use them to reduce your taxable income.

Eoin

Threads merged, please don't post the same thread in the same forum within minutes of each other.

srsly78

40k of unpaid VAT is not a "small mistake"

VAT is not complicated. Whack 21% onto invoice. Done. Even simpler for intra-eu exports, no vat applies between vat regd companies.

But yeah wanting to pay class A prsi is a valid reason to go with umbrella. If you are serious about contracting tho, and aren't worried about unemployment then DIY is the way to go. Class S prsi saves you nothing tho, you pay even more than everyone else Can't even make voluntary contributions to qualify for JSA, only option is to build up rainy-day fund in company.

drrkpd

I have posted on a more recent thread about umbrella companies but found icon excellent and very competitive rates

allibastor

if its only a short term contract and you are very unsure of how the tax and accounts sytem works go with the umbrella company. CXC in cork are good as they kept a file for employees with all receipts etc for me and i could request this at any stage. they also explained all the various options to me and were very helpful. they also go through how to claim expenses and the like very well.

if you find you could be contracting for a good while it may be good to look into the sole trader route, but for short term and the addition of having PRSI paid the umbrella company is good. the rate they charge is very little also as it is taken before tax so doesnt work out too bad