General

Q Are you being paid to advertise these schemes?
A No. We are paid a modest introduction commission if you join.

Q Do you just advertise whoever pays you most?
A No. We either know people who use the schemes or have seen good reports on them.

Q Does 4Contractors involvement cost me more money?
A No. All companies have to spend money on marketing. As we are paid only on results the companies we introduce actually save on their overheads (which ultimately you pay for).

Q I am working overseas - can you help?
A Sorry - our schemes are designed for UK residents only. We have not yet investigated overseas working.

Q Why are you running ads for your competitors?
A We get paid for clickthroughs and are confident that our recommended services are good enough to fend off any competition.

Accounting

Q Why don't I need a local accountant?
A Contractor accounting is relatively simple. Everything can be handled perfectly well by phone, email, and post.

Q How much work do I have to do?
A Very little. Unlike many accountancy packages aimed at contractors there is no need to complete complex forms every month. You just post off copies of your invoices and expenses.

Q Some of my contracts are IR35 caught some are not. Can this be handled? Will it cost more?
A This scenario is quite common with consultants and no extra charges are made for maximising your income with a combination of dividends and salary. Please note that this does not include high level invoicing activities such as PC repair work etc. Fees for such a business would need to be negotiated.

Offshore

Q IR591 was a damp squib - why should I bother considering offshore?
A It is true that IR591 will not cost most contractors more than about £1,000 and the more you earn the less the increase is but using offshore still saves money and removes any accounting requirement. Our scheme operators even look after your Self Assessment filing so the registration requirement mentioned below will involve you in zero extra effort.

Q Are these offshore schemes legal?
A Yes.

Q Are these offshore schemes UK government approved?
A The question does not apply - the schemes are run by non-UK resident companies UK government approval is not required.

Q But surely changes made in <enter year of your choice> ruled EBTs out?
A There have been numerous attempts to rule out the use of EBTs over the years.
For example this and this in the 2003 budget.
The first of these concerns allowable expenditure against corporation tax and is completely irrelevant for an offshore company as they do not pay UK taxes of any sort.
The second concerns payment of CGT by UK citizens on benefits received. The way EBTs operate now there is no taxable benefit.
The 2004 budget now requires offshore schemes to be registered with the Inland Revenue. We will provide more details on the implications of this as soon as possible.

Q Are these offshore schemes 100% risk free?
A No. On the other hand neither is operating through an umbrella company and agencies themselves have been put into receivership.

Q You have already stated there are no tax risks - so what other risks are there?
A Some of the money due to you will not be received for two months. Companies can and do have financial problems and go out of business. One such company was Dignatio. However we have seen comments from at least one Dignatio user that despite losing some money he was still in pocket by a very substantial margin by virtue of the large tax savings made before the collapse.

Q If I use an Invoicing Agent and just pocket the money will I be caught?
A Probably.

Q Do you use an offshore scheme?
A No. We operate limited companies using our recommended accountant. Had IR591 been as draconian as expected we would have changed over to offshore.

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