Paddy1000111

Can you link me to something from a reliable source that in the UK if you call yourself a freelancer then you have absolutely no personal liability in any way when working for another company and if anything goes wrong that you aren't responsible in any way? All I can find is stuff saying that you can be held accountable and it's the reason most freelancers are a LTD company. I agree that you won't be sued by the end client but there's nothing stopping the company you are freelancing to or their insurers suing you which is where personal indemnity comes in.

And you can guarantee that if it was the self employed freezer repair guy who made a cock up and did the dodgy repairs instead of Tesco staff then that £500k bill would have been swiftly shifted to his insurance/pocket... No matter how many times he says "But it's Tesco's fridge, they told me that it needed to be fixed, their manager told me what fridge to repair, I shouldn't need insurance, it's Tesco's fridge and they're insured and they deal with the customer not me" 🙄

I don't get why this has turned into a big conversation. My point from the start of this is to check your insurance policy and always read the fine print. Just having a policy doesn't mean that everyone is covered for everything. It doesn't matter who is in charge of what, it's down to what your insurance company put in your policy. Lets look at this a different way, If you're an electrician and you go into a hotel and fit a plug where the hotel told you to. Next client goes in and electrocutes themselves because there was no earth. They spend 2 days in hospital. They claim off the hotels insurance who will swiftly pass the bill to the electricians insurance policy. Why do you think that as a company, if you subcontract some of your work, say climbing, to someone else that they are automatically covered by your insurance policy because you are telling them what branch to cut off or they are wearing a shirt with your logo on and you are invoicing the customer. It's not how business works and plenty of companies have gone bankrupt and peoples houses repossessed because they haven't had the appropriate insurance. I'm not saying that if your insurance policy states in writing that it covers anyone subcontracted or freelance then it is a lie but I am saying that someone who is subcontracted or freelance IS NOT an employee. Some insurance companies may include a freelancer as an employee but IT IS DOWN TO THE INSURER My whole point with all of this was that if you are a subcontractor or freelancer or contract labourer or whatever you want to call yourself then ensure the insurance policy of every person you work for covers you? Why is that so hard?!

The moisture is a slight issue but no biggy. They have valves in that direct the airflow correctly and an moisture will drain out the front of a 3m 6000. I used to have to wear them for 11.5 hours a day doing fuel tank work etc, they aren't as uncomfortable as people think. That being said, the air fed masks are more comfortable but you need to pay more for them, you need the air filtration and water removal equipment and you need a good sized compressor that can either supply far more air than you need and shut off to cool or can run at 100% duty cycle which is usually a screw compressor. If you try to hook up a small compressor (under 100L at least) then you're going to be breathing hot, humid, oily air that is really bad for you.

Well lets say your insurance doesn't cover subcontractors working for you. You have a sub in the tree chogging bits down and one of the logs goes through a roof. You claim on your insurance. They don't say "okay, we will ping you over the money now", they want a report of what happened. One of the questions they will ask is who was cutting in the tree, where are their certificates, are they an employee and how long have they worked for you. Your tax status is your employment status, they aren't separate things. The way you can employ people and how it will work is changing massively. You want a freelancer for the day, they are working for you as part of your team using your gear and you are their boss- They are under IR35. IR35 doesn't fit this industry, in fact it doesn't fit a lot of industries. Being a sole trader and working for a couple of different people doesn't mean jack in the eyes of the money grabbers at HMRC.

All to destroy the personal service company 👎

You are 100% right, if you want to work for another company as a labour only worker and not a true contractor then you have to be part of an umbrella company. It's caused the rise of a load of companies that employ people on umbrella and they skim off the top and make good wedge just doing PAYE administration. "Making tax digital" which is a requirement of VAT registered companies was the start to this VAT threshold lowering and stopping the small guys being tax efficient.

I know you want air fed but you're going to need all the filtration for inlet air etc or you will be breathing all the oil out the compressor which is some nasty carcinogenic crap. Look at the 3m 6000 series half mask or full face, they are worth their weight in gold. I used to do cargo bays on planes that were a rockwool stuff like fiberglass and usually the s*** tank leaked into it too. Not just wasn't I inhaling dust but I couldn't smell the poo either. I've also used them for asbestos removal too. You can fit test by blocking the inlets and breathing in and blocking the outlet and breathing out. 10000x better than air fed.

Yea, exactly. I'm not saying that the company you're working for is going to f off before you get out the tree and say it's your problem bye. I just know that people will do anything to avoid taking a financial hit, especially when they don't know you at all and you don't matter to them. Contracts matter and so does the fine print. It's bad practice to just assume that you're insured and covered by others policies because you read online once that if you're working for someone else and pretending to be part of their team that you're fully insured. This topic is going on far to long 🙄 I didn't think this was that hard: IR35 applies to everyone. It does effect the guys doing what the OP wants to do and people running long contracts. Employment law does matter, not because of tax but because it is the rules that the insurance company will use to work out if you are covered or not and they will do anything to wiggle out of a claim. There's a defined line between employee and subcontractor and PAYE employee registration can and will be used against you. Don't assume, check you are insured no matter how long you've been doing it or what a website says. Policies change no matter how long you have been with a company. Always have a contract with the person you're working for, be it to prove insurance or to get your money from a non-payer This isn't argument stuff, it's just the common sense approach to running a business and not having bailiffs coming and taking your s*** because you failed to insure yourself or run a business properly

I had a play with an FX impact when I was using the Chrono in the shop the other day. They are tidy bits of kit!

Ding ding, exactly. I mean, in the industry you follow manuals, there's no "how you see fit". You usually have a "manager" from the company signing off the stuff you do but it's down to you to follow manuals. But lets focus on arb, you climb a tree and start dropping logs and eventually send one through someone's house and see how eager the company you are working for is to jump in and say that it's all on them, they told you to fire that log through the persons roof and see how excited they will be sort it all out. Especially as most guys in this industry don't seem to bother with contracts. This is the difference between freelancing for anyone and doing odd job extra days for people you know.

This topic has gone on far too long. To the OP: It's a dodgy territory on IR35, he's just getting out of doing paperwork at your risk If you go ahead make sure your employers insurance covers you That about covers it 🤷‍♂️😂

Maybe I wasn't clear. Wefixplanes got someone in to do the work as a subbie and they ****************ed up. It's up to the subcontractor to rectify the issue and "make a mends" the aircraft owner had nothing to do with it although because of the delay they went to wefixplanes for compensation which they would have had to pay for and claim back of the subcontractor. My point is, unless the employer, in that case wefixplanes, has an insurance policy that covers any subcontractor they bring in then it's down to the subcontractor to make a mends. There's no legal requirement for insurance you are right, but it depends if you want to pay out of your own pocket for what you break.

Best thing I ever did to my S200 was refinish the stock. From the factory its a boring, bland beech that had no character. I refinished it with tru-oil and it's a beaut now

Putting a regulator in the gun is night and day. I fitted a lane regulator to an S400 and it's like a new gun. You get a mental number of shots from it too!

I did, now she's the Ex... 😂😂

This is the shady ground and one of the reasons the reforms were moved from 2019-2020 originally anyway. There's no time limits and it's about the type of work. If you're doing all the same work and acting like an employee you are under IR35 according to the rules. Obviously this doesn't work because like you say, you're working for different people all the time so you are a freelancer in all senses of the word and not a disguised employee but this isn't the first time HMRC have bought out some bullshit ruling that doesn't fit everyone.

Ir35 is a very complicated beast. I could discuss it for hours and hours. In it's basic form: If you are working for a big arb company week after week with their guys and you are an employee who is paid differently to the rest of them then this is illegal, you are a disguised employee. The reason freelancing doesn't really exist is it's basically a way to have employees that pay little to no tax. HMRC want their pound of flesh. In their eyes, if you need more guys to do the same work you are currently doing you employ more staff, not get in some extras that you pay in a different way. My point with insurance is to check your documents and read the fine print. I'm not saying that if your insurance states that it covers subcontractors that it's lying. I was talking to a local tree guy the other day, he has had the same insurance company for the last 5 years, he renewed it recently and found out that the insurance he had only covered him for trees up to 25ft. Who has actually sat down and read their insurance policy?

But it's all the same thing. A "freelancer" is no different to a contractor. They are all a subcontracted company no matter what name you give them. It's down to the work contract as to if they supply tools or whatever. We haven't banned the word but a Freelancer of old, i.e. someone who works for you in every sense of the word and you just pay them more and they deal with their taxes isn't a thing.

I wish I could leave the UK this year with the amount of bollocks that's going on. My advice was unclear to the OP I guess. It would have been better if I said "Ask your employer to check his insurance and make sure it covers subcontractors/freelancers as not all policies do. Also make sure you're getting your just reward out of it, especially if you have to pay insurance as you aren't getting pension, sick etc etc. The difference in price is more than you think"

It's not scrapped. IR35 already exists, it's a complicated beast. Basically nothing about IR35 is new it's all written in stone. The reform is that where before it was down to the contractor to work out if they fall under IR35 it is now down to the employer with hefty fines to suit.

Yep, exactly. Also the contract guys were hard workers and high earners. They were the ones earning 60k+ buying expensive toys with a hefty VAT cost. You're average joe on £28k isn't doing that. But he doesn't see the long term damage, just the short term cream off the top !

As I keep saying, in the eyes of employment law and HMRC there is no such thing as freelancing. You are either an employee on PAYE or you are a subcontractor. There's no middle ground anymore. There is no such thing as someone who is an off the books employee, it's illegal. You have two types of income, one is through PAYE the other is non-taxed where you are expected to sort out the tax etc as you are a sole trader/ltd company. If you receive money pre tax then you are a subcontractor no other way around it, no matter what term you use. The company has taken a job that they need help with and you provide help via a contract, when the contract is complete (or at pre determined times) you invoice the customer. The only other way to get money from a company pre-tax is undeclared cash in hand and the legality of that is obvious.

Well, Jamie Jones sums it up pretty well. For the arb industry, If you are doing odd jobs and fill ins then I wouldn't worry, you will be in a cloudy area and HMRC aren't going to chase you. If you are working as a "freelancer" however for a bigger company on the regular you need to look at starting to cover your arse from the HMRC vampires that lurk in the dark looking for money. If you are freelancing and the company you are working for is audited you could be asking for a bumpy ride. If you are "freelancing" then watch the insurance policies. My main point is- When IR35 comes in fully a "freelancer" i.e. a contracted labourer that does work for you will no longer legally exist and will be an illegal position. Insurance companies aren't going to give you insurance for an illegal form of employment no matter how many online blogs you read. In the eyes of employment law "freelance" isn't a thing. You are either employed by someone as an employee and have to pay NI and all the rest or you are a subcontracted company outside of the IR35 regulations, be it a sole trader or a Ltd company. The rules are changing big time from April 2021, know where you stand, dot your i's and cross your t's. In regards to Rishi, He's a lying, thieving little C*** and I hope he dies a very painful death. He's ruined industries, he's going to make companies bankrupt, he's going to cause a massive amount of instability in smaller companies that rely on contractors to fill a gap in the busy season. He's royally F'd one of the backbones of the economy and ruined small businesses all in hopes of scraping a few quid extra of the little man.

I'm curious too! I just finished a regulator install and tuning on my Air Arms S200 and it's a fantastic gun now. Get around 80 shots from a fill which is unbelievable