Advise needed following contract review

[LEX200]

Hi Newbie here, just recently been offered my first contract role!! Had the contract reviewed by B&C on Friday and was told that it had failed and that it would be difficult to win if it ended up in court.

In light of the contract being inside of IR35, its not financially worth me taking the role, and would be better of staying as a perm. Does this give me leverage with the agent to up the daily rate?? What have others in similar situations done?

Many thanks for your help

[PM-Junkie]

Find out what parts of the contract are IR35 bound and get the pimp to change them in accordance with what the review recommends. If they don't, then walk if it's not financially viable to do the contract.

[Sockpuppet]

I'd jump now.

You got to think about the higher contract as well.

[The Lone Gunman]

In light of a recent court case (Dragonfly) it is my opinion that changing the wording of the contract to be outside IR35 will lose you any court case should the change be noted.
It is also likely that the contract between agent and client will not be changed

You either have to renegotiate the terms and conditions under which you will work, get the rate upped to negate IR35 costs or walk away.

For the first you need to contact both the agent and the client stating why the original contract is not acceptable then state the terms under which your company will accept a contract. Make sure you get a reply from both parties.
IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY THIS WILL HAPPEN.

For the second just use one of the IR35 calculators available online.
IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY YOU WILL ACHIEVE THE REQUIRED RATE.

The third is easy. Just say no.

[LEX200]

Along with the contract i also sent the job description/spec. B&C said that although i didnt have to send it the IR could request it if it ended up in court.

SP, sorry for sounding such a neewb, what do you mean i need to think of the higher contract??

Will see what the agent has to say, if not back to the old job hunting sites

[rootsnall]

In light of the contract being inside of IR35, its not financially worth me taking the role, and would be better of staying as a perm.

Sounds like your rate needs upping considerably to make it worthwhile !? The rough rule of thumb is if your salary is say 40K you want to be looking at gross contract earnings of 80K.

[The Lone Gunman]

Along with the contract i also sent the job description/spec. B&C said that although i didnt have to send it the IR could request it if it ended up in court.

SP, sorry for sounding such a neewb, what do you mean i need to think of the higher contract??

Will see what the agent has to say, if not back to the old job hunting sites

The higher contract is the one between the agent and the client. You have no right to see it, and have no control over its content, but in an IR35 investigation it will be used against you.

[LEX200]

The higher contract is the one between the agent and the client. You have no right to see it, and have no control over its content, but in an IR35 investigation it will be used against you.

Ahh thakns for the clarification TLG!....as you say i cant see it or have control over it, just curious how it could be used against the contractor??

Also, im not going to, but have others in similar stuations gone direct to the client? I know that the agent is having one over on me on the rate as its my first contract, and for the job is well below the market rate, however i was happy to take it for the experience with the assumption that it was outside IR35.

[NotAllThere]

Get the contract changed, and get insurance to cover a loss if taken to court. While Dragonfly was a bit of a blow, there still have been MANY wins against HMRC over IR35, and I'm sure there will continue to be. HMRC have probably got wiser over which cases they'll persue. An non-Ir35 contract together with not becoming part of the organisation is still, in my opinion, a pretty safe bet.

[VectraMan]

The higher contract is the one between the agent and the client. You have no right to see it, and have no control over its content, but in an IR35 investigation it will be used against you.

As for getting a higher rate, to be fair to them the client doesn't care about your personal tax situation and certainly isn't going to pay you more to make up for it, and the agent will just say that the client won't pay more. Forget it, in other words.