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Benefits of contracting through a Ltd. company

According to  Companies House, limited companies are the most popular type of incorporated structure in the UK and the preferred option for many contractors, as opposed to an umbrella alternative. In the UK, a significant percentage of contractors work via their own limited company as it offers many benefits that are both financially and emotionally rewarding.

If you are a UK contractor, here are just 6 reasons why you should consider setting up a limited company today and, if you are not using one, why you should contact us here at Associate Services:

1. Simple to set up
Setting up a limited company is quick and easy to do. You can apply directly via Companies House, or through an intermediary like Associate Services, where set up is free of charge and can be completed on the same day. If you are new to contracting, or you would prefer professional help with the incorporation process, we can do all the leg work whilst you concentrate on your contractor workload.

2. Higher take home pay
One of the main advantages to contracting through a limited company is that you can take home a higher percentage of your income or turnover, typically around 70 – 80 % and some cases more like 83%. When you work so hard, it’s nice to know there are ways you can maximise the rewards. Operating under a limited company gives you the opportunity to keep that extra monthly income without being aggressive in your planning.

3. Claim on a wider range of expenses
Another benefit of setting up a limited company is that you can claim on a wider range of expenses. Again, this helps you to retain more of your income which you can use to treat yourself to a well-earned break. We can help you to determine the business expenses you’re allowed to claim so that you’re not paying more tax than necessary.

4. Control of your Business
Setting up a limited company means that you retain control over your financial affairs and also the day-to-day running of your business, which appeals to many contractors or self-employed individuals. As the Director, you will have responsibility for running the company and this allows you to have complete oversight on your income and expenditure whilst considering all tax planning opportunities that are based on expanding on standard accounting principles.

5. Gives you more credibility
Some companies prefer not to deal with non-limited business and so they avoid sole-traders or umbrella company formations. Often operating as a limited company will give suppliers and customer more confidence in your personal and professional ability to carry out the work efficiently and with the likes of engaging with various recruitment agencies means you don’t have to be concerned over ‘Preferred Suppliers Lists’

6. Opportunity for tax planning
Setting up a limited company provides many more opportunities for tax planning, allowing you to be proactive when it comes to how much tax to pay. We all want to reduce the amount of tax we pay on our hard-earned cash and the ability to manage our tax affairs remains a key reason for contracting through a limited company.

Setting up a limited company is much more financially rewarding compared with working through an umbrella company. However, it requires a great deal of administration to meet regulatory requirements and a thorough understanding of how to attain all the financial advantages available.

Change Your Work From Home Policy – Why not reinvent work?

I (Pam Ross) was recently asked by an HR manager if I had a sample of a policy about working from home. My answer was:

Do you want something more than “Get your work done. Meet your objectives. Do that from wherever you want.“

Perhaps I was slightly joking. But really, not so much. I think we often go wrong trying to formalize policies around things that aren’t the important things. Really, does it matter where your employees do their work, as long as they get it done?

Work is not a place you go, but something you do.

If I work in retail and need to serve customers, I obviously can’t work from home. If my work is done on a certain machine in a factory, then I need to be in the factory to get my work done. But if my work is done on a computer, in the age of the “cloud”, then what difference does it make if I work from home, from a Starbucks, or from the office? What if we just said “get your work done” and let people figure out where and when they can do it best? It takes a reinvention of what we think of as work.

The productivity lie

For years, we have been wrongly focused on time spent at work as a measure of productivity. The thing is, that measure of productivity simply makes no sense. For some reason, managers have a tendency to think others aren’t working unless they can see them… but guess what? Just because your employee is sitting in their seat at their computer does not mean they are being productive.

George Costanza famously demonstrated this on Seinfeld when he locked his keys in his car in the Yankee’s parking lot, making it look like he was the first one in and last one out every day. Check out what he had to say on Seinfeld:

Steinbrenner is like the first guy in, at the crack of dawn. He sees my car, he figures I’m the first guy in. Then, the last person to leave is Wilhelm. He sees my car, he figures I’m burning the midnight oil. Between the two of them, they think I’m working an 18 hour day!

When we focus on time in our seats at work as a measure of productivity, not only are we measuring the wrong thing, we actually spend more time being unproductive ourselves. I recently had a conversation with an HR Manager who was dealing with several issues of bosses disciplining employees because of coming to work late, taking extensive breaks, or leaving early. The amount of energy and time spent on these issues is crippling. And it doesn’t matter!!! I asked my friend “does this person get their work done, even though she takes these breaks?” The answer was yes. So my next question is why are we wasting so much time worrying about her time spent at work, if she’s getting things done?

Most of us are not fabricating widgets or manning a machine on a line. Most of us are knowledge workers, and in today’s world, that means a lot of our work can be done from anywhere. It also often means that we are working or connected to work via smartphones, tablets and laptops for an average of 72 hours a week!

Where do you get your best work done?

Ask yourself this:

Where do I have my most creative thoughts? Where am I when I get my best ideas?

I’m willing to bet that you probably didn’t say “sitting in my cubicle”. I think there are times when it is helpful to be in an office, collaborating in person with team members. I also know that I often get more work done in an hour at home than I could in a full afternoon in an office environment at times. There are other times that I find the music and atmosphere of a coffee shop helpful for some types of work. And I know I get my best ideas when I’m outside in nature or going for a run with my dog. So why do we force people to come to work from 9-5, when they may get more and better work done from elsewhere?

The hard part

OK, so here’s where it gets difficult. Because just saying “work from anywhere” won’t work unless you know what you’re working towards. In an autonomous working world, clear purpose, mission, and goals and objectives are important. We need to get clear on the results we are responsible for, and measure those – not the time spent attempting to achieve them. This is the entire basis of the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE), developed by Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler several years ago.

In a ROWE, people manage their own time as well as where and how they work, as long as they get results. This type of work environment shuts down non-productive gossip (which Jody and Cali call “Sludge”) about people leaving early, taking breaks or getting time off because of their family status. In a ROWE, there’s no need for a “work from home” policy, because it doesn’t matter where you work. Managers spend their time as a coach, developing their people, rather than managing the time people spend in their seats at work.

The more I speak with managers about the problems they have with their team members, the more I hear about so much time wasted managing the things that don’t matter – number of sick days, people leaving work early on Fridays, long lunches, too many breaks, and more. Think about it – how much time have you spent in the past month either talking to colleagues about these things, stressing about them as an employee, or managing them as a leader? How much better could this time have been spent if you were simply worried about the outcome of the work – the results people were achieving?

I believe it’s time to stop worrying about where and when people work. It’s time to start thinking about what they accomplish. Who decided that 9-5 was the correct time for work, anyway? Let’s start to question the basic assumptions of work and just focus on being successful for our organizations and our customers. The work world and our lives could be much happier and engaging!

What do you think? Are we wasting too much time worrying about the wrong things? Is it time to reinvent work?

Article from:

Pam Ross

Speaker | Connector | Facilitator | Innovative HR Pro | Culture Catalyst | Curing Mediocrity