Anyone know about IR35 legislation?

[likessleep]

A client who I used to work for has said that he would give me regular work if I went freelance (rather than use the agency I used to work for, many moons ago).
I am currently in the process of setting this up.
However, the IR35 legislation has been mentioned to me, which I am talking to my Accountant about when I see him a week on Monday.
If I work for one client only, am I liable? If I don't manage to secure work elsewhere, will I be in 'trouble'?
It would be project based work, where I would present formally at the end and I would be working from home.
This has unnerved me, and I was so excited to be able to make this work.
Any experiences welcome.
Thanks

It isn't to do with how many people you work for.

Are you being paid by the hour or paid for the project? If the latter, then you're fine.

Hang on, I'll look up the rules.

I enquired about this a while ago when I was covering someone's maternity leave. Would you be able to do any other work for other clients while you're working for this client. My accountant said at the time as long as I was billing a few other invoices during the tax year I should be OK. I also believe that a 'project' rather than continuous basis is best, as Fruitful says.

IR35 is basically there to make sure employers don't get employees on the cheap (ie employ so-called freelancers without paying their tax and NI) but if you can show via your invoices that you are working for someone else too, however infrequently, you will probably be OK.

Good luck! I am trying to get back into freelancing as my part time job is rocky at the moment. In my experience it's the easiest option with kids and you'll pay less tax!

Can you do the work when and where and how you like, as long as you meet the deadline? Can you substitute another worker to do the job for you?

Or can you get them to give you a contract that says you can?

thanks fruitful.
being paid by the project.
i really hope so. my sister is an accountant and said it is fine. but the accountant who i am using professionally (sister is about to have baby) said there may be a problem.

i can do work for other clients but (a) it would involve sales, which i am rubbish at and hate and (b) currently client is great with fab projects and (c) i don't really need more work/money and (d) i am not guaranteed any more work elsewhere anyway.

yes, i can do the work when, where and how i like (which is great as i can catch up on evenings/weekends).
i could substitute another worker to do the work for me (if i was ill for example, i could hire another freelancer). i can speak to my client about including this in t&cs.
i just don't want to work elsewhere, this would be quite a cushty set up. they send me regular briefs, i provide quotes and invoice on final presentation.
so confusing isn't it!

My DH is a consultant and works on a contract basis on short term projects, so I know a little about it. Like wordsmith says its to stop empolyers and employees from trying to avoid paying tax & NI. My DH gets all his contracts reviewed by a company called Bauer & Cotrell, who will, if needs be, liase with your client and make any neccesary changes to amke sure the wording complies with the legislation. You can also get IR35 insurance to protect you from any tax investigation.

thanks undertheduvet. that's really good information and i will look them up.
thanks

I had a period where I did a lot of work for one client, and therefore had less time to do work for others.

My accountant said it was helpful that we had agreed project briefs which made it clear that each piece of work was a separate entity, so project A was different from project B with different input requirements and different outcomes/products. The timing and size of the invoices also varied.

I think the real risk is if you are performing a similar task on a regular and repeated basis, such that you would be invoicing on a monthly basis, for the same amount each month.

Thanks notsoclever, that's great. each project has its own objectives and presentation, so should be fine on that front. the invoice amount will also vary. i am in the process of writing terms and conditions, so i am considering getting them checked over by the company undertheduvet's dh uses.
thanks for all of your help.