Aston Management - Take home 86% of gross?

[Gaz]

Hi Guys,

I'm over managing my own Ltd company - I never seem to get the paprework done! ;-) ... so I'm looking for an alternative. I was looking at managed ltd company schemes (recommendations welcome), but Aston Management have a more unusual offering: http://www.astonml.com/

It works a bit like an umbrella company, but they use an offshore employee benefit trust to pay you (i think).

They claim: "Our innovative approach enables individuals to take home up to 86% of their gross income."

Sounds too good to be true! ;-) ...Has anyone had any dealings with the company? Are they reputable?

Thanks!
Gaz

[oraclesmith]

Personally (and call me cowardly if you like, why don't you) I wouldn't use anything other than a conventional limited company approach. I'm surprised the admin's getting to you - all you've really got to do is keep accurate accounts (on Sage Instant or whatever) including record expenses, issue invoices and do the odd return for VAT (if you need to), Companies House and HMRC. If you've got a half decent accountant to do your PAYE and corporation tax, you're done.

I wouldn't touch anything with 'overseas', 'offshore', 'innovative' or 'scheme' in the description. It's like wearing a T-shirt with 'HMRC come and get me' on it. Just my personal preference mind you.

[oraclesmith]

It's a employee benefit trust - loan arrangement. If you do get involved, you must get an independent UK business lawyer to look over it, especially the Trustees rights to recall the loan. If recall happens you have to pay back nearly all the income you've been 'loaned' .

[Mordac]

they use an offshore employee benefit trust to pay you (i think).

EBTs are now illegal, iirc. Even if they weren't, they are just about the most risky mechanism on the face of the earth. Since the money received is not salary (quite the opposite in fact) you have zero protection if anything goes the slightest bit wrong. And boy can things go wrong. Google "Dignatio" for further reading.

They claim: "Our innovative approach enables individuals to take home up to 86% of their gross income."

Innovative? I'd be interested to hear their definition...

Sounds too good to be true!

If it walks like a duck...

[oraclesmith]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/tax-adv...&in_page_id=77

"The taxman eventually stops most schemes, but the programme said firms' accountants simply come up with new schemes, such as setting up an employee benefit trust.

Under this instead of paying bonuses or big salaries directly to the employee, which would incur income tax, the money is paid through a trust which is often offshore.

The trust then forwards the cash to the individual in the form of a very long-term, often interest-free loan. The scheme, which is called lend and forget, avoids paying tax as there is no tax to pay on a loan.

With the taxman now turning his attention to employee benefit trusts, companies have most recently adopted loss creation devices, where losses are awarded to individuals to be offset against tax. The loss, which is artificial, appears to wipe out the income, removing income tax liability. "

[TheMonkey]

I just pay the tax and charge the clients more.

[cojak]

Get yourself organised then - it's not that hard to do even with an Excel spreadsheet. It's even easier with bookkeeping software.

Get your accountant to explain it all to you - that's what you pay them for.

And DON'T tell us you haven't got an accountant 'cos we'll laugh at you and tell you you'll get what you deserve...*

*you don't count Monkey - you're almost an accountant...

[triboix]

Look at SJD

Hi Gaz,

Have a look at s j d and read their "Bespoke Report" (click the link "Take home 83% of your income" and learn how take home almost what you described in a legal way.

Cheers

[foxy]

I agree, it does sound too good to be true but having spoken to them out of curiosity (they are refreshingly honest), their offering does seem to make sense.

From what I can gather, it's not an umbrella scheme, you become an employee of theirs which then enables you to receive benefits from their EBT in the form of a loan. Tax on loans is obviously minimal, hence the huge returns using this method. I found an explanation on 4 contractor site: www. 4 contractor .co.uk though don't understand why it says they're blocked to new applicants???

Employee Benefit Trust
With this type of scheme you become the employee of an offshore company and pay normal UK P.A.Y.E. on your income from the company. The salary offered will be considerably less than the amount the offshore company receives from invoices for your services.

As an employee of the company you are eligible to participate in the Employee Benefit Trust which makes payments to company employees. Payments are based of the profit the company has generated from employing you - effectively the difference between the amount invoiced for your services and the cost of employing you. For legal reasons to remain free from taxation these payments from the Trust cannot be guaranteed.

The Employee Benefit Trust route has been in use for many years. There have been several changes in legislation attempting to block this option but the offshore companies have always modified their procedures to remain within the law. Unfortunately the 2004 budget has effectively blocked the schemes to new applicants.

I questioned the legality of EBTs with Aston Management and the guy I spoke to said that HMRC had simply changed corporation tax. Corporation Tax is now paid prior to EBT contributions (?)therefore negating the benefits of UK based EBTs. As Aston Management is based in Isle of Man they don't pay UK tax so the benefits of the EBT remain. The Isle of Man also seems to be quite highly regulated.

I Google-d 'Dignatio': Proves you need to do your homework!!!
It changed its name 3 times: 'Creative Style Consulting Ltd', 'Dignatio Corp Ltd' and finally 'Contractor Financial Planning Ltd'. Not only that but the director was portugese and the EBT was latterly operated by a bank in Montenegro!!!!!! It must have had dodgy all over it.

As i said before (but even more so now!), the Isle of Man seems to be highly regulated!!!!!! Aston say their trustees are independent and that the trust is administered by a top 10 UK firm of accountants - would be easy to check this out.

EBTs seem to offer an alternative to composites etc just offering a higher return. It is your money however, so I would recommend speaking to the company and seeign what feel you get for their offering yourself.

[Pondlife]

GAZ posts = 1
Foxy posts = 1

Both advocating the use of some 'too good to be true' offshore crap.

Wake up and smell the

EBTs seem to offer an alternative to composites etc just offering a higher return. It is your money however, so I would recommend speaking to the company and seeign what feel you get for their offering yourself.

FFS Frying pans and fire spring to mind.