Hi Dutch, I am myself a self employed driver & seem to remember a thread on self employment on here last year.
I also seem to think there was a tread recently on these NOVA type schemes which make you in effect self employed, but via an agency &
I’m not sure but I think most of the trade plate drivers are self employed so these could be one way of doing it that the Inland Revenue will accept. You will find in general the Inland revenue will not recognise you as self employed unless you have several companys to work for & are doing more than just driving.
Thanks your response Alan.
Although most agencies employ drivers on a self employed basis, this is in name only as we are on the paye scheme. From the agency point of view, if there is no work then the driver does not get paid unless on holiday. In fact my agency has recently advised me that they are going to accept self employed drivers in the near future in order to attract more drivers signing up. As with employers this has to be beneficial to them with no tax, ni or pension schemes etc. The driver would just invoice the agency on an agreed frequency, and be responsible for his/her own tax affairs.
The area that I was coming from was that since this industry is so pitifully paid, that I would like to keep as much of my earnings as possible and this was one way of doing it. It seems the Government has other ideas and would try to keep most of us paying as much tax as possible.
I have’nt gone off the rails yet but will dig deeper.
Thanks again.
Dutch…
Hello,
I am currently working full time as an agency driver (artic) and am interested in becoming self employed. I am meeting some reluctance amongst companies on the premise that under tax considerations, they cannot employ self employed drivers alongside full time drivers if they doing the same work. I could be considered if I provided my own insurance ie, vehicle and/or load insurance. This would obviously be prohibitive.
Has any one gone down this road and would the best outcome be to stay as fully employed either agency or regular.
Thank you.