NEED help with new contract

[ebonyman]

Please i need help!

I worked for a university last year via an agency. The contract finished and i got another contract with another company and that also finished recently.

I'm now back at the university for a second stint (got the job through a phone call from the manager, not via a recruitment agency) and the upon submitting my first invoice to the finance department, they are requesting i fill in a rather long form to enable HMR&C to ascertain my employment status???

The contract was signed directly with the university & my ltd company and I have an accountant that does my tax calculations, which i pay monthly.

Can anyone explain why i need to fill in a form when i've always worked via my ltd company? I thought that meant i was 'self-employed' ???

Thanks.

[malvolio]

You might get a more useful answer if you asked your client to explain. Chances are some tit in HR has sent you the wrong paperwork in the mistaken belief you are an employee. But how, exactly, do you expect us to know that?

[ebonyman]

Reply...

thanks for the reply.

I've fired off an email to the person that sent the email requesting me to fill in the form and explained what the situation is. The contract is between the university and my ltd company. I'm not VAt registered so i dont add VAt on the invoices. Accountant sorts out NI, TAX and payroll.

I suppose i was wrong in assuming she knew what she was talking about!!! I'll update the thread once i get a reply from her.

[expat]

...ency) and the upon submitting my first invoice to the finance department, they are requesting i fill in a rather long form to enable HMR&C to ascertain my employment status???...

Can anyone explain why i need to fill in a form when i've always worked via my ltd company? I thought that meant i was 'self-employed' ???

Firstly (and it may be important), if you work via your Ltd Co then you will normally be an employee of the Ltd Co. That does not make you self-employed, it makes you employed.

It may be that the client person thinks that you are trying to have a "self-employed" status (for example because you yourself used the term?), and if so then they would be right to be concerned, because if HMRC disagree about a self-employed person's status then they may be taken to be an employee of the client.

OTOH if you are an employee (and, probably, director) of your Ltd Co, then the client need not worry, because your Ltd Co is paying PAYE; and if HMRC disagree with any aspects of your Ltd Co's arrangements (such as paying dividends) then that is between HMRC and you and your Ltd Co. Otherwise known as "IR35". No problem for the client.

So first make sure that the client knows that you are NOT self-employed.

[ebonyman]

Thanks everyone.

It transpires that the woman that sent the email didnt actually read the invoice i sent to the finance department.

She didnt see the LTD company information on the invoice and assumed i was employed by the university, rather than by my LTD company as pointed out in the previous post!

She has profusely appologised for the confusion and everything is sorted and thank GOD i dont have to answer the dreaded 100-ish questions!!!

Thanks again for the replies.