The Network Effect

[Ronin]

Hi All,

Has anyone used a company called The Network Effect or know of any reviews.

They are offering a service called a cooperative umbrella

Planned pay using our cooperative umbrella
Use more of your annual tax allowances (circa £40k available per annum)
Some utility around expenses (though not as a personal tax shield)
Monthly net pay projected at 76%

Thanks in advance

Ronin

[malvolio]

Nope, never heard of them. Don't want to either. And expenses are not income. And 76% is unachievable through an umbrella payroll service provider.

So what are they (and you) not telling us?

[Runster]

Nope, never heard of them. Don't want to either. And expenses are not income. And 76% is unachievable through an umbrella payroll service provider.

So what are they (and you) not telling us?

I believe WTT offer a cooperative type arrangement.

Www.wttconsulting.co.uk

They partner with The Contractor Co-operative | Compliance & simplicity for contractors

[WTFH]

Alarm bells:

Registrant:
Name withheld. This Registrant is using a privacy service.

Registrant's address:
Address withheld. This Registrant is using a privacy service.

They've been in existence since May 2016, and the founder's name sounds familiar to me.

[Fred Bloggs]

I believe WTT offer a cooperative type arrangement.

Www.wttconsulting.co.uk

They partner with The Contractor Co-operative | Compliance & simplicity for contractors

Oh my. Is this a case of running with the hare and the hounds simultaneously? It looks awfully like it to me. As a nosey, curious individual concerning this whole murky, messy industry, I'd love to hear more about the relationships between these two.

[webberg]

Apologies for having only just found this thread.

WTT do not offer The Contractor Cooperative.

WTT has no connection in the slightest with The Network Effect, has not investigated it and has no plans to do so.

WTT is a tax enquiry specialist and does not offer schemes, plans or arrangements.

The Contractor Cooperative Ltd is however supported by WTT and will continue to be so, until a number of triggers are reached, all of which are contained in the Cooperative's Articles and internal handbooks as to how employees and members will be dealt with.

The Cooperative has its own staff and systems and processes. It does presently share offices with WTT but again, as and when critical size is reached, we expect that to change.

There are commercial agreements that permit WTT to undertake some functions - mainly professional - but in the main the Cooperative is running its own business.

Why then does WTT support it?

Mainly because we have fielded the same question from contractors pretty much ever since we started. If WTT says that loan schemes, alleged non taxable payments, playing games with expenses, are all likely to be seen and investigated as tax avoidance, what should I do?

Until April 2017, the PSC was as good an answer as any and there was consequently no real need to do anything else.

The IR35 reform then and perhaps the extension of that to the private sector, combined with increased activity (if not success) from HMRC on status reviews of PSC's convinced us that the best option was to replicate the Big Group type of model for those wishing to continue contracting.

In short this is to bring together people of like mind in order to afford the very best in advice and to provide a single point of reference should HMRC come asking questions - which they will - and which the Cooperative is actively engaging in now as part of its accreditation process.

To escape the intermediaries legislation - especially MSC - the Cooperative is designed to be an independently operating company that is no different from any other company, save for the inclusion in its article of Cooperative principles, as laid down by the International Cooperative Alliance.

These allow each member a vote and encourages all members to run the company the way they want to. As a direct result WTT is not promoting the operating (as that would fall foul of MSC) and is not facilitating the company for the same reason. The objective is that the members/shareholders decide how to run the company and the Cooperatives' officers are there to execute that plan.

Everything the Cooperative does is transparent from its fee structure to its AGM. There are no offshore elements, no loans, no contrived mechanisms, no tax free money. Everything coming into and leaving the Cooperative is taxable.

In summary, WTT has lent its time and people to the Cooperative to get the company up and running. Once it has achieved sufficient independence, WTT will not be part of the management or direction of the Cooperative.

I'm aware that the website here has rules about advertising so I'll stop there save for a mention that the returns from The Network Effect are, I agree, unobtainable without some tax avoidance and that the Cooperative maximum return is perhaps somewhere between a PAYE and Own Company rate.