Nova setting you up as limited company?

For a definite answer you need to see a decent accountant

You may like to read this

hmrc.gov.uk/factsheet/limited-company.pdf

and

companieshouse.gov.uk/about/guidance.shtml

good luck

If your making a good bit more than you would working for someone then being ltd is a must ,years ago my accountant at the time tried to put me off being ltd ,it turned out he wasn’t able to do ltd co accounts ,when my income tax got up to £16000,00 I became ltd ,the other bonus is no ni payments .being ltd was worth it every time .

newmercman:
Also the VAT part confuses me. Unless things have changed you don’t get to keep SFA, you claim back VAT that you pay out for any business expenses, the rest that you collect has to be paid in quarterly with your return.

Yes things have changed with the introduction of the ‘Flat Rate VAT scheme’ which as previously pointed out allows us (in Transport) charge 20% VAT and keep half of it (10% of the invoice value) - which is only really beneficial if you’re selling a service i.e. driving… it’s not really for people that buy loads of goods and try and reclaim VAT i.e. as a self employed ‘driver’ on the Flat Rate Scheme you can’t claim VAT back on fuel etc…

I fear there may have been some confusion here as i/we may be crossing the boundaries of a sole trader/Ltd Co as ‘a driver’ or being an owner driver…?

I have no experience of being self employed other than being an owner driver then a small fleet owner.

So as you say, the boundaries may be a little fuzzy.

The best advice for anyone thinking of doing it is to research it to death and then ask at least two different accountants for their opinion.

There is far too much at stake to make a decision based on what you read on trucknetuk.

Tax bills are to be comparable to Dolly Parton then?

“It costs a lot of money to get it looking this cheap”

Lol, that does appear to apply to accountants though. I was advised by a wise old haulier that your accountant should save you four times his bill.

newmercman:
Lol, that does appear to apply to accountants though. I was advised by a wise old haulier that your accountant should save you four times his bill.

i was advised to find an accountant that knows the transport industry. seemingly expenses can be different depending on your trade so get one that knows what you are able to fiddle to save money as a driver

NB i am waiting to hear about a job. if i dont get it i will look at going limited company using a recommended accountant. NOVA are getting on my ■■■■ so i want rid of them. i pay them for a service and they think they can dictate to me about taking holidays? i dont think so!

Yeah you definitely want one that knows the industry, as you say there are little tricks that can make a big difference to the size of the cheque you write to them.

scanny77:
i was advised to find an accountant that knows the transport industry. seemingly expenses can be different depending on your trade so get one that knows what you are able to fiddle to save money as a driver

NB i am waiting to hear about a job. if i dont get it i will look at going limited company using a recommended accountant. NOVA are getting on my ■■■■ so i want rid of them. i pay them for a service and they think they can dictate to me about taking holidays? i dont think so!

A few years ago agencies used to be ok and treated drivers (and other workers) with some modicum of decency and had a respect for their skill sets. Nowadays it is all about trying to shaft the people on their books. The various ‘payment schemes’ always seem to benefit the agency far more than the individual worker. They have actually tried to offer me contracts where they claim the client only wants people on umbrella… yeah right… jog on ■■■■■■■… :unamused:

At the end of the day it all about doing the figures. Self employed (in any context) generally means no holiday pay, no sickness pay, no paid accident insurance and also reduced benefits should you find yourself without work for a protracted period.

Another thing to consider is trying to get a mortgage/bank loan/credit when you’re self employed, that is very difficult without a ton of records and a big deposit :bulb:

Roymondo:

Boycie2013:
when you over 32k you are on higher tax rate.

More like £41k - the first £9k4 is tax free, the next £32k is taxed at 20% and only anything more than that is at 40%.

Not many employed truck drivers will be worrying too much about 40% tax…

Income Tax rates and taxable bands
Income Tax rates and taxable bands 2013 - 14 and 2014 - 15
Rate
2013-14
2014-15
Starting rate for savings: 10%*
£0 - £2,790
£0 - £2,880
Basic rate: 20%
£0 - £32,010
£0 - £31,865
Higher rate: 40%
£32,011 - £150,000
£31,866 - £150,000
Additional rate: 50%
N/A
N/A
Additional rate: 45% from 6 April 2013
Over £150,000
Over £150,000
found this out from hmrc website…

newmercman:
Hi Boycie, what line of business are you in? Being better off is good, I was also better off being limited, once I reached a certain threshold, but that doesn’t mean the same for everyone.

Also the VAT part confuses me. Unless things have changed you don’t get to keep SFA, you claim back VAT that you pay out for any business expenses, the rest that you collect has to be paid in quarterly with your return.

You can get a cheque off the VAT every quarter if you spend more VAT than you pay out, but there are only two ways to do that, one is invoicing an offshore company, the other is by running at a loss. VAT being a percentage on top of sales and receivables.

hello. Im freelance lgv driver (people hire my services only) I dont have my own lorry i think this is where maybe getting lost in translation. :smiley:

with regards to flat rate scheme. I charge 20% pay 10 to vat man other 10 towards tax. works for me.

just to throw this one out there I think Umbrella companies are a bunch of bell pieces what I pay my accountant works out @ £15 per week. Also if have any quires/problems he is always swift to advise.

Just to throw my two penneth in there I would advise every agency driver on this forum to go ltd co. in their own right , you are far better off than paye or the likes of nova etc. I have had my ltd co for 10 yrs now before that I was a sole trader {not a good idea} when the recession hit in the early 90s I lost my house and everything. Ltd co. you are protected and if you earn £30.000 p.a you just as well off as a paye employee earning £60.000 p.a. don’t believe me!.. do your research…!!! we live in a country that wants all its citizens to pay 40% tax on high earnings as in the case of 60k. with ltd and a very good creative accountant you will pay nought.

VAT was 17.5% when I packed up and they wanted every penny they were due. Although I used to get credit most quarters as I invoiced a few foreign companies, so I paid more VAT than I collected. I like the sound of keeping 10% though. However there’s got to be a catch somewhere?

Boycie2013:

Roymondo:

Boycie2013:
when you over 32k you are on higher tax rate.

More like £41k - the first £9k4 is tax free, the next £32k is taxed at 20% and only anything more than that is at 40%.

Not many employed truck drivers will be worrying too much about 40% tax…

Income Tax rates and taxable bands
Income Tax rates and taxable bands 2013 - 14 and 2014 - 15
Rate
2013-14
2014-15
Starting rate for savings: 10%*
£0 - £2,790
£0 - £2,880
Basic rate: 20%
£0 - £32,010
£0 - £31,865
Higher rate: 40%
£32,011 - £150,000
£31,866 - £150,000
Additional rate: 50%
N/A
N/A
Additional rate: 45% from 6 April 2013
Over £150,000
Over £150,000
found this out from hmrc website…

Which is exactly as I said - the first £9,400 is tax free (your “personal allowance”), and the next £32,000 is taxed at 20%. Only anything above that (i.e. when you are earning more than £41,000) is taxed at 40% - and even then, it’s only the bit above £41k that is taxed at that rate. It is not true to say “when you over 32k you are on higher tax rate” because that simply isn’t the case.

This whole umbrella scheme and now Ltd company ■■■■■■■■ is going too far surely :question:

First of all the agencies did the lorry driver out of a full time job, basically turning driving into a succession of jobs, rather than a career, now they want to scavenge even more out of it and make drivers responsible for taxes etc.

What next? Drivers to pay for the fuel or insurance :unamused:

It’s about time every driver on an agency woke up and told them to go and get [zb]ed and in the week or two it took for the parasites to curl up and disappear every agency driver could have a job without giving up part of their wages to the agency leeches…

It’s very easy for someone in employment to preach to leave an agency that’s paying his mortgage. Big companies use people like De Poel to control the agencies to keep their costs down and unless the agency sticks to De Poel guidelines then the agency then have no work. Sainsbury employ De Poel and most agencies through De Poel have got employees to opt into this so called Swedish derogation and it is not worth the paper it’s printed on. They believe because you have opted out of not getting equal pay as Sainsbury employees then all is rosie for them. The problem they have though is they say in the contract you cannot work for anyone else? That then means the IR35 rules of self employment don’t exist to you as you are an employee? So does that make the agency liable for a tax that should in my opinion be paid by big companies who pass the buck to the agencies!!

colin.f.whitetrans:
It’s very easy for someone in employment to preach to leave an agency that’s paying his mortgage. Big companies use people like De Poel to control the agencies to keep their costs down and unless the agency sticks to De Poel guidelines then the agency then have no work. Sainsbury employ De Poel and most agencies through De Poel have got employees to opt into this so called Swedish derogation and it is not worth the paper it’s printed on. They believe because you have opted out of not getting equal pay as Sainsbury employees then all is rosie for them. The problem they have though is they say in the contract you cannot work for anyone else? That then means the IR35 rules of self employment don’t exist to you as you are an employee? So does that make the agency liable for a tax that should in my opinion be paid by big companies who pass the buck to the agencies!!

I’m sick of all the crooks getting away with such “stealth theft” by sucessive governments who are too afraid to stop it lest they be accused of “not being business-friendly - wot won Blair the election in '97” :imp: :angry:

When HMRC catch up with everyone contradicting themselves at every turn tax-wise, guess who gets the big back-tax bill?
Guess who doesn’t pay a bean, because when the chips are down, the firms just fold up, and open somewhere else offering a similar scheme “back across the legal side of the fence” again.

Sainsburys, and firms like them that use mickey mouse tax evasion & employee-care-evasion outfits should hang their heads in shame. :imp:

I think that once people wrap their head around the concept that most agencies are little more than professional con merchants, on the same evolutionary scale as double glazing salesmen then it all becomes clear. Take Reed for example, a massive recruitment business. Like many agencies they implemented a travel and subsistence scheme which was supposed to offset your commuting and food costs. In reality about four quid a week better off for the employee, but massive savings to the agency. HMRC declared the scheme illegal, as are most such schemes and ordered Reed to pay out £152 MILLION in unpaid fees. Reed immediately tried to claim it should be the individual workers that paid that money back, but they were overruled on this and HMRC stated they would not be chasing the individual workers as the scheme was implemented by a large corporation to try to offset its tax and NI burden. Despite this, many other agencies are still offering this travel and subsistence scheme even though they are fully aware it has been declared illegal in most cases by HMRC and that in future the workers themselves may be forced to pay this money back.

I am currently on an agency contract (not driving). I earn good money, at exactly the same rate as the regular employees, have the same paid breaks, holiday entitlements and every other benefit. I am on a normal PAYE scheme. Like most agency contracts it is of an unknown duration and I can be finished at any time with little notice, but at least I am free of any mickey mouse limited setups or dodgy umbrella schemes and am free of any worries of getting an unexpected demand arriving on my doorstop from HMRC one day.

Incidentally, if someone sets themselves up as self employed, but provides a labour only service to one client, whether that be the agency or the employer, then in the eyes of HMRC you are not self employed but an employee, as many people have recently found out to their cost. :open_mouth: