Argentia, anyone heard of them?

[nfoote]

Has anyone heard of Argentia as an Umbrella/Limited company?

Met a guy over the weekend who contracts (not in IT) and has just switched to Argentia as his mates told him they pay 80% of your gross. Apparently no expenses to send in either. He reckons he's been paid from them for about 3 weeks now, all coming in at 78-80% of his contract rate.

Seems too good to be true, pay on par with a limited company but with the almost zero paperwork of an umbrella?! Has anyone heard of them or used them? Are they actually legit?

[northernladuk]

Lots of info on here about 80%+ payers and it's all bad news and don't touch with hot potato stuff.

For a start why would anyone put their money with any company with such a god awful website!!!
Yuk

Avoid at all costs!. Need to advise your mates to do a bit of research before they jump in IMHO.

[MarkOD]

considering there's no mention of how they actually do things i'm going to take my £1 and put all of it on it being an EBT sort scheme

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Has to be an EBT scheme I would think. Not illegal but with associated risks that are on a par with Russian roulette

[nfoote]

Such as

Any links to some more info on EBTs?

[malvolio]

Any links to some more info on EBTs?

Thud thud thud....

Try using it as a search term. Or read the last budget statement.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

In the March 2010 budget, the government show ed its commitment to putting a stop to tax avoidance schemes by 06th April 2011.
A press notice, “Protecting Tax Revenues”, which announced attacks on payroll and offshore "schemes" that exploit tax "loopholes “ was released alongside the Budget statement.

The notice from Her Majesty's Treasury reads as follows: "The government is taking further action to change the game for those seeking to bend or break the rules on tax."

According to the notice, the government says it will take action on trusts and "other vehicles", used to reward employees, where remuneration is not taxed correctly.

Anyone currently using or considering using a scheme that promises “a higher net return” should be wary as HMR&C have successfully applied retrospective tax action following the recent BN66 legal battle. This paves the way for similar retrospective action being applied to any other avoidance schemes that HMR&C set their sights on.

[NotAllThere]

Argentia does not offer expenses on a weekly basis. Instead we restructure your pay in a way which eliminates the need for hundreds of receipts. ...
However employees of Argentia should retain receipts for expenses in case they may be used at the end of the tax year.

no contradiction there then.

Please be aware that from experience we have found that your agency may change your rate without letting you know. This can be backdated and is usually detected early on if your agency send schedules to Limited companies.

Well yes, that happens all the time.

[Vallah]

This paves the way for similar retrospective action being applied to any other avoidance schemes that HMR&C set their sights on.

Does it balls. They'd like to think it would maybe, but they'd have no chance with EBT's. They're just loans that have had the correct amount of UK tax paid on them.

[NotAllThere]

Does it balls. They'd like to think it would maybe, but they'd have no chance with EBT's. They're just loans that have had the correct amount of UK tax paid on them.

Said a representative of an EBT, earlier today.