Advice re Umbrella vs LTD and PAYE with Agency

[Madge67]

Hi everyone

I've been contracting for a few years now and the agency I work with have always asked for invoices every week and just pay as a sole trader. Dont ask me why as I know its very unusual. I just went along with it as you do. They have now asked me to either go through an Umbrella, LTD co or via themselves as PAYE. Im just wondering what would be the best option financially. I work form home so dont have much in the way of expenses, in fact nothing really. Can I have your thoughts and experiences please. It appears the PAYE and Umbrella are very similar in deductions so would it be worth setting up a LTD co but would the accountancy fees just make it pretty much the same in which case the PAYE would be better for ease. I keep going round in circles trying to find the best option.

Cheers
Madge

[northernladuk]

We've been over this many times and there are a lot of articles on the Web discussing the pros and cons in detail.

Try using the Google search method to find where this has been asked before.

Umbrella or paye site:contractoruk.com/forums

Mess around with the keywords.

I'm sure there will be something in the guides on the right hand side as well.

The answer is dependant on your situation so we can't really answer it for you. You need the answers to a host of questions such as..

How much is agency charging for PAYE.
Is there a set list of brollies?
How important is pension provision to you.
Etc.

[Hobosapien]

My first contract started that way, with client paying me direct as self-employed. When they realised they were on the hook for employer related taxes they required I change method and back then Ltd was the only decent choice.

One thing I'd be wary of if accepting their PAYE option is whether they would try to claw back any employer taxes if they've not been paying those up to now. You'll need a new contract if going via brolly or Ltd (to formally add the new entity into the client/contractor relationship) so there would be a natural barrier to them being able to mess things up even further as the new entity would be getting the fees gross of any taxes.

[northernladuk]

Didn't you have a look in to this in 2017 when you first asked the question?

https://www.contractoruk.com/forums/...ctor-help.html

Are you still on around £17 an hour in which case I very much doubt the LTD is worth doing. There used to be a rule of thumb that LTD's don't really provide any savings over a brolly until you are over £30k

Personally I'd go for a brolly rather than leave it up to the agency.

Give Lucy at Clarity Umbrella a call and she'll talk you through it all.

Might just want to check what part of the forum you are posting in next time as well.....