Sole trader to limited company

For you it means more paperwork/audited accounts/cost. For them it probably means they get Revenue off their back for not paying employment taxes.

Paying a limited company rather than a sole trader will make no difference to the employer/ payer, from a revenue point of view.

You are correct, but if Revenue were looking to claim the OP should be classed as an employee as opposed to contractor, a ltd company is one step further away than a sole trader so protects the employer.

I used to get around this by ensuring I invoiced at least two other companies in any tax year. Can you do that?

As for accessing money, you might have to set up a business bank account. You’ll need to get your business set up first. I can recommend startuphub.ie

Perfect. As long as you can show you've done work for other companies, Revenue should be fine with it.

Some light reading for you. 😋

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

One would assume your client/employer would have consulted with their accountants about this and they would have acted on their advice as opposed to just chancing their arm.