With the delay of the Agency Workers Directive (AWD) until October 2011, there is at last some relief for contractors. Make no mistake, AWD as drafted would have a big impact on contractors given that agencies and end-clients would be forced into processes that would at best delay placements and at worse, remove some of the roles available.

Having made the decision to work through your own limited Company, there are a few steps to take to set it up. Always remember the Company is a separate legal entity and never mix its affairs up with your own.

The recent move from the Special Commissioners to the Tax Tribunal brought about a number of changes to the processes leading up to, and including, a hearing. One such change is the right to request, or accept an offer of, an independent review (once Determinations and Decisions have been raised) before the case is to be listed for a hearing.

I was reading the various contractor-related bulletin boards over the weekend (as you do…) and I was struck yet again by the number of people in this game who don’t really understand the business they’re in. There’s a lot to understand and nobody expects you to be a combination of chartered accountant, tax barrister and employment law expert, but some idea of the basics would be good.

HMRC have just announced a new penalty regime for the late payment of monthly PAYE & NIC, to come into effect from May 2010. This appears to be another attempt to collect more revenue without increasing any tax rates and is likely to affect small employers much more than large employers, who will have a whole payroll department to be able to deal with it.

This is not and does not claim to be a definitive guide to IR35 and how to avoid its clutches. That is something that has defeated many experts over the last ten years. However, I hope to provide a summary of what we do know about IR35, what all the arcane acronyms really mean, and which bits are the important ones.

Freelance contractors can now, for the first time fund life insurance through their limited company and not have it treated as a benefit in kind.