Is become self employed worth it.

another thing to take into account is a mortgage, if you need a mortgage in the future its easier to get it as a paye employee then a self employed contractor.

Revenue have a code of practice about whether a person is classed as an employee or self-employed. Some info here:

https://www.revenue.ie/en/self-assessment-and-self-employment/documents/code-of-practice-on-employment-status.pdf

Lots of reasons an employer might want a self-employed person rather than an employee, mainly down to costs. There are new rules coming for paid sick leave and pension schemes on top of current legislation which gives employees many rights that self-employed don't have.

If a person is truly a sole-trader who selects his own clients/customers and works the hours they choose, controls how the work is done and who does it, then it can be a great option and allows for a very flexible work/life balance. A true self-employed person usually sets their own rate in agreement with a client and it needs to cover all their costs plus a profit. Also, as Shelby said, there is a lot of paperwork, if your income is above certain limits you should be registering for Vat and charging it on your invoices.

If on the other hand, it is just a fictitious label to facilitate an employer who wants to avoid all the costs and legal responsibilities of being an employer, that might not be so good for the individual.

At the end of the day, self-employment suits a lot of people but there's lots of rules to be aware of.

Op I think you may be better off staying as an employee. The above calculations sound impressive but they are assuming you will be working the exact same hours - this may not be the case when you become a contractor. In fact most businesses would try to keep contractor hours to a minimum. When you invoice the company you may have to wait until the following month or more for payment. Security of your wages being in the account on a certain date is gone.

You have alot more rights as an employee rathar than a contractor. As a contractor you could literally be told at any time that they don't need you. You would have no notice period or redundancy entitlement. Sick pay is also gone so if you are off sick you are relying on state benefits.

Also do you have any other benefits in your current package - pension, health insurance etc. Any benefits you currently have would now have to be funded by yourself.

Also do consider the point Mrs Lancaster made re employee v subcontractor.

Op weigh the pros and cons up very carefully. The company you currently work for has more to gain by you becoming a contractor than you.

Im not being nosey only trying to help but can you give us a rough idea what you do? Are you in the building trade - if so you need to look at what revenue define as a subcontractor.

You could run into problems if you are only invoicing one company - this does not meet revenues rules - they would deem you an employee. You could avoid this problem though by doing other small jobs for other clients.

Ok thats good you probably wont come under RCT as you are maintenance. Make sure you are well covered insurance wise as you will be hung up as a contractor should an accident happen relating to a machine/vehicle you maintain/repair.

Best of luck Cian - I hope it works out well for you😀

As an employee, it's illegal to work for more than 48 hours per week on average. Yet you are doing 58 all the time. If your employer got audited, your hours could be a world of trouble for them. So they have an incentive to change something.

To do 58 hours/week, you must be pretty much working the equivalent of 8am-6pm, Monday to Saturday. There must be virtually no time in your life to do anything else.

Presumably you are able to manage this load because you get annual leave at 8% of time worked. But as a contractor, your leave is never paid. No work = no pay.

I'm an IT contractor, I realise that a/ its a different industry and b/ its'a different country (UK) but one thing is, how safe is your contract as self-employed ? Can they terminate your contract with a weeks notice, for example, so no redundancy, etc ? Might make a difference to you.

I think you are making one or two errors here. You based it on a 52 weeks, ie paid holidays . Maybe OP gets holidays. But maybe not as he working for a contractor.

You've also assume that overtime is paid daily, when it might be weekly. Doesn't matter when its a full week. Weeks were there are holidays will come off the overtime is the contract is weekly.

It will definitely be more profitable. The question is how much work is guaranteed. Ultimately I think only the OP has all the info,

Correct, I assumed he is paid holidays. in his first post, the OP stated he is currently a PAYE worker.

In terms of your second point, the difference would be roughly €1.5k annually. *(25 days * 40% =10 days * 3.8 hours * €40 = €1,520).It's something the OP can avoid by planning his breaks optimally. Additionally, most companies offer a daily rate.

*Assumes the OP takes his breaks/holidays in blocks of two days per week as opposed to five day blocks per my original daily rate calc.

Are they still going to expect you to jump for breakdowns or issues out of hours?

And will you jump, or will you do work for other places now as well and maybe give those priority? If you aren't at their beck and call will they start to use a different contractor instead?

There is a reason they want contractors and it isn't because they are thinking of you. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

The only way I would advise this is if you are actually going to operate as a sole trader who sets his own terms. If you are going to be treated as an employee in what they expect from you, then you should remain an employee.

A good HGV fitter will always get work but I know plenty of lads who jumped at offers like this and found out the grass isn't always greener.

Being going on for years and we'll see more of it, especially with the demand for 'work from home'. The transport/ haulage industry at it years, letting go drivers on the payroll and taking them back on as self employed. Anybody not in a regular office environment for a company, is fair game. Makes a lot of sense from the companies POV.