MrBen

Saturn 5 - Many UK IT contractors choose to work through their own limited company. This model has pro's and cons versus an umbrella. The main advantage is that you can elect to pay yourself a minimum salary of say ?6-12k which with the standard personal allowance you'll only pay a small amount of tax. Then draw the rest as a dividend from profits (paid after deduction of legitimate expenses and corporation tax). The tax advantage is that dividends are only taxed at an effective rate of 25% or so above the higher rate versus 40-50% if you were a standard PAYE higher rate earner. You can also deduct HMRC allowable expenses like said basic salary, petrol mileage, stationary, accountants fees, IT equipment before you pay any tax at all. The downside of a ltd co is the threat from badly worded pieced of tax legislation called IR35 introduced by the government in 2000 or so. You either fall "inside " or "out" of this status determination. If it is deemed you fall"inside" then you basically have to pay full PAYE tax. If IR35 does not apply then you can proceed with the tax advantages above. This is still a grey area and you'll find plenty basic guides and advice for newbies at Contractor UK portal. In the meantime the coalition government have promised to review IR35 and to potentially look to replace it with clearer law although that still appears tricky and some way off. The other main downside of a ltd co is the admin. You will need to make annual submissions to Companies House, prepare annual accounts, quarterly vat returns (if registered), payroll and ensure good book keeping for your income, outgoings, receipts etc. Your umbrella handles most of this for you. If you move to an accountant then you'll have to take on more of these responsibilities although most good ones will handle the majority for you. If this is not your forte then get someone good and make sure you at least know the basics. I've PM'd you some other useful contacts. Good luck.

I can be....

crrrazy.

Having just cooked an apparently "amazing" roast (I have a stinking man cold so couldn't taste any of it) I am now strangely entranced by Deal no Deal with the sound off whilst listening to The Bees album Octopus and drinking a Laphroig (the only thing I can taste). Crazy childless sunday combo eh?

Call me slow (I've been away) but has Woofmark returned as Annette Curtain? If so, why am I enjoying Annette's posts more than Woofs bold and italic pictorial diatribes?

regretting that.

Already

Eat your daily muffin Dulwich! For that brothel above the bakery

Snorky....ever despairing, bleakly cynical, but large grains of truth and one of the few posters to make me laugh out loud anymore. EDIT: along with *Bob* and Hona obviously

Free bar and tasteful striptease at the O2 tonight :)-D

Also worth noting I think, that the Land Registry "actuals" are based on completion dates which can be anything from 3-9 months after the date at which the sale was agreed. Especially if there was a chain that delayed buyers from completing. At the moment if you are chain free you are in a strong position...it has taken some I know almost a year to sell and move up in this climate.

MrTwirly Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Sad? you need to get out more.. or perhaps stay in > more ;) > > Been on a number of hunts, my uncle is a Ghillie / > Gamekeeper in Scotland and what he doesn't know > about game hunting, fishing, culls etc probably > isn't worth knowing. > Mr Twirly - I don't suppose he could sort me out with a day's fishing on the River Tweed, Tay or Dee per chance?

As opposed to the 352 two bedroom flats that were marketed but didn't sell in December 2010 in SE22?

KeyboardWarrior Wrote: > comments like its tough to get over > 250k for a two bed garden flat are just nonsense. I think if you re read my post you'll see that to get over 250K for a flat without a garden is hard at present. First time buyers need ?25,000 for that + costs which if its over stamp duty threshold take purchase costs to ?30,000+. Anyone who thinks there is a long queue of FTB's with that ready cash handy is in some kind of 2007 dreamland. Or an estate agent.

It's now obligatory to start any property thread with an apology of sorts. Apology accepted - I love them. My experience having been looking for 4 months with multiple agents for a 3-4 bed house (to live in) is generally that: - Prices have fallen since the start of the year - Bad or even remotely undesirable properties are not shifting well - That despite the above anecdote, flats in particular are still not shifting well as most 1st time buyers are locked out. - 2 double bed Flats with gardens are doing better but without getting above the ?250k price for stamp duty is not easy. - Decent period houses on decent streets are holding up but down a bit (2-8%) from 2010's false spike (my opinion) - Most important observation learned is that asking prices advertised often bear no resemblance to the actual transaction value agreed e.g. houses advertised at 500K have been selling for 425K depending on demand of course. Nobody wants to advertise at that "true" price so agents are pricing in the discounting at the start. It's all propped up by low interest rates so expect more pain when they start to rise. In your case I'd stick it on now - its only going to get worse in the near term.

There's always another side to the story of course. Not all council owned properties are financially viable - particularly larger period properties that fall outside of estates and there are quite a few of those sprinkled across Southwark. For example, rather than spending 100k modernisation costs on a 1900's terrace it might be deemed more viable to sell the property privately for say 600K to raise funds can then be diverted to modern, lower build cost housing elsewhere. At least that's the theory.....

Great photograph. All of those medals always get me. What did he win them for? Bombing innocent passenger planes over Scotland?

Would it be wrong for me to raise a china cup to Lady Grey, the Earls zesty, refreshingly vibrant sister? You can find Twinings do a fine version of that too. And it's at the co-op.

If you were a betting man - how many actual days does he have left?

With his scary hair dye, 40 strong army of all-female bodyguards, travelling tent and a weird 7.5% stake stake in Juventus FC, I've always been strangely fascinated by the often horrific antics of bonkers Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi. This latest Libyan uprising is history in the making, but what next for Gaddafi? Are the US waiting to jump in with their jack boots to stabilise this oil rich nation for the benefit of "world security"? Will the CIA be already on the ground and ready to back rebel forces as we speak? And will those female virgin bodyguards manage to keep their Colonel safe?

Taryn - you're doing a great thing here - well done and best of luck. I plan to bid for that acoustic from my favourite south london guitar shop and would like to donate.....

Getting in early is a wonderful thing. You get a seat on the train/bus, a bacon sarnie and a coffee and still feel like you have one on the day ahead. Early commuters also seem to be slightly more civilised and willing to help others who need it. Better still, as we live in an unprecedented time of huge opportunity and fast technology, why not become your own boss and work remotely? Ideally this should always be from a sun lounger with a hot Canadian chick and a huge Del Boy style Pina Colada with a cherry on top.. *sent by Blackberry from St Lucia*

Darn this unfashionable house price quandry which is only remotely interesting if you, like me, actually need to buy a proper house in 2011. Otherwise please move swiftly on to the Fish Man thread. I hear you can get a very nice plaice for ?6. Sorry....prices are still at peak levels or higher which tells me we're either due a sharp fall or simply years of lowish interest rate stagnation. If it's the latter I may as well jack myself up to maximum "utility yield" now and head to Dovercourt Road no? 5 mins from the park and safely detached from the rest of the world by people with gardeners and nannies.

> I even own land at the Laphroig distillery (for what > it's worth)! (tu) For anyone with a passing interest - I have now started to collect and have found one shop in London selling (a few left!) a very rare bottling of 36 year old (1970) cask strength from a distillery that has been closed since the early 1980's for the princely sum of ?200 - which is interesting as a quick google reveals (from multiple sources) that it's market value is be ?550. I have bought some and yes I intend to drink it!

It's a fairly dark and quiet street but as has been said before I wouldn't get to hung up on any particular street - mine happened 20 yards from East Dulwich Police station.... Attacking a lone woman at night is just f*&^%$g cowardly. It really gets me mad that. Anyway - speedy recovery and don't let these scumbags get the better of you.