Becoming a sole trader for one company

Autochange

Hi.
Unfortunately i have been unemployed for some time but recently was offered a 6 month position as long as I operate as a sole trader. The company who offered the position have said this is a minimum and may or may not lead to more work depending on if they manage to win another big contract. ( They are a small company who have just started out last year).
I basically want to sign off social welfare and take up employment but am concerned that when the project finishes up if I am again out of work and cant find anything quickly can i return to social welfare payments while i search?
I am confused as to what my options are and am waiting on an appointment date with social welfare to discuss
thanks

gerrybbadd

Autochange wrote: »

Hi.
Unfortunately i have been unemployed for some time but recently was offered a 6 month position as long as I operate as a sole trader. The company who offered the position have said this is a minimum and may or may not lead to more work depending on if they manage to win another big contract. ( They are a small company who have just started out last year).
I basically want to sign off social welfare and take up employment but am concerned that when the project finishes up if I am again out of work and cant find anything quickly can i return to social welfare payments while i search?
I am confused as to what my options are and am waiting on an appointment date with social welfare to discuss
thanks

Seems a bit funny to me.

Demanding that you operate as a sole trader is strange - this basically means you are not an employee of theirs, and they don't have to pay stamps to Social Welfare etc on your behalf. Have a look at this here

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/code-of-practice-on-employment-status.pdf

Stheno

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Seems a bit funny to me.

Demanding that you operate as a sole trader is strange - this basically means you are not an employee of theirs, and they don't have to pay stamps to Social Welfare etc on your behalf. Have a look at this here

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/rct/determining-the-correct-employment-status-of-a-worker.html

That's why they are doing it to save on employers prsi and paying for annual leave and bank holidays.

Revenue take a dim view of it if they discover it

pilly

It will depend on how many years you've worked for before. If you have stamps paid for the relevant year when you go to reclaim unemployment benefit then it's automatic. When was the last time you were working full time?

exaisle

pilly wrote: »

It will depend on how many years you've worked for before. If you have stamps paid for the relevant year when you go to reclaim unemployment benefit then it's automatic. When was the last time you were working full time?

If he/she works for three years as a self-employed sole trader, then he/she wont qualify for Jobseekers Benefit.

The employer is saving employers' PRSI of 10.75% and the cost of paying bank and annual holidays.

That said, you may be entitled to back to work enterprise allowance (if they havent scrapped it) in which case you keep part of your social welfare payments for two years...

Avatar MIA

It's likely that revenue would consider this as employment and if they found out would treat as employment retrospectively. You would then get your stamps.

exaisle

Avatar MIA wrote: »

It's likely that revenue would consider this as employment and if they found out would treat as employment retrospectively. You would then get your stamps.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it's "likely". In practice, it's unlikely that revenue would become aware of it unless it was flagged on their system or the "employer" was audited and if they kept their affairs in order, that would be less likely.

If I was the OP, I wouldn't be banking on "getting my stamps" at any stage, although it is worth mentioning that as a self-employed person, the OP would pay PRSI at an S rate which would qualify them for the Old Age/Retirement pension..

uck51js9zml2yt

There are companies that specialise in managing your payment as a contractor.
They can operate as an umbrella with you being an employee.
All you do is forward them the monthly invoices, they get paid, sort out your class A prsi and tax and pay you(for a small fee)
It's pretty standard in the IT sector.

Fenero.ie is one I've been in touch with over the years.

Avatar MIA

exaisle wrote: »

I wouldn't go as far as saying it's "likely".

You're mixing up your probabilities. It's almost certain Revenue would consider this employment. I've had a very recent experience of this with Revenue.

It could be considered unlikely that Revenue would audit the company. That part is debatable. However, revenue have upped their game in this regard.

exaisle

Avatar MIA wrote: »

You're mixing up your probabilities.

You're probably right ;-)....Actually, you're 100% correct.
There's a code of practice on the subject:

http://https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwij-Iuo95bQAhWmHsAKHZnHBScQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.revenue.ie%2Fen%2Ftax%2Fit%2Fleaflets%2Fcode-of-practice-on-employment-status.pdf&usg=AFQjCNH1R64K5Tz_vfMo81sI9mKEk6yjUw&sig2=s96u-GvQrM8r-jp_AhgTPw&cad=rja

pilly

Matilda Clumsy Tack wrote: »

There are companies that specialise in managing your payment as a contractor.
They can operate as an umbrella with you being an employee.
All you do is forward them the monthly invoices, they get paid, sort out your class A prsi and tax and pay you(for a small fee)
It's pretty standard in the IT sector.

Fenero.ie is one I've been in touch with over the years.

That sounds like a great set-up to me.

uck51js9zml2yt

pilly wrote: »

That sounds like a great set-up to me.

Give them a shout. I found them very helpful.
You can either be a director/employee or an employee which is the better option. They will email you all the figures so you can see which suits best.

Autochange

Thanks for the replies and advice. In the end nothing came of it unfortunately but I managed to secure work as a price employee with a different company!