Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-10-02 Thread Jacinta Richardson
Michael (Micksa) Slade wrote:

 But there are other advantages.  For example you can set up a bank
 account under the company's name.  Can't do that under a sole trader. 
 I'm sure there are other little things that I don't know about too.

Are you sure?

I expect that you are correct, semantically.  However this isn't necessarily as
bad as could be read from your comments.  We had a bank account under the name
of Paul Fenwick trading as Perl Training Australia for some years.  I
regularly banked cheques to Perl Training Australia into that account without
any comment from the bank employees.

All the best,

J

-- 
   (`-''-/).___..--''`-._  |  Jacinta Richardson |
`6_ 6  )   `-.  ( ).`-.__.`)  |  Perl Training Australia|
(_Y_.)'  ._   )  `._ `. ``-..-'   |  +61 3 9354 6001|
  _..`--'_..-_/  /--'_.' ,'   | [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
 (il),-''  (li),'  ((!.-' |   www.perltraining.com.au   |
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-10-01 Thread Michael (Micksa) Slade




Jacinta Richardson wrote:

  Rev Simon Rumble wrote:
  
  
This one time, at band camp, Jacinta Richardson wrote:




  For what it's worth we probably spend about 3 hours a month (maximum) entering
invoices and receipts into our accounting package, about 2 minutes a quarter
doing our BAS and maybe 1 hour a year doing the tax return.
  


That sounds doable.  What accounting package, if you don't mind?

  
  
We use gnucash, but SQL Ledger ( http://www.sql-ledger.org/ ) has been getting
press.  We were toying with the idea of moving over, but we haven't yet.
  

So you're running a Pty Ltd company on gnucash. Cool, I was wondering
if it could handle it.

But how much work did it take to get it to cooperate? I imagine the
basics are there (you still have the same basic types of accounts, no
matter what you're doing), but how much of the work does it do for
you? Like, can it calculate employee witholding? Company tax? CGT? etc.

Mick.



-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-10-01 Thread Michael (Micksa) Slade

Ben Donohue wrote:


Hi Simon,

Ive been both a contractor and also permanent staff on and off for 
many years...


There is a good reason to get a PTY Limited company in that is says 
LIMITED.
In short it means that if you do something WRONG they can only sue the 
COMPANY for every cent it has.

Leaving YOU with your house and car and other possessions intact.


Being sued is a risk but it depends on what you're doing.  If you're 
just writing web scripts for a tiny company or something, there's not 
much they can sue you for. It gets interesting when you put yourself in 
a position where you could potentially destroy valuable data, bring down 
income-generating live systems etc.  Also, simply by earning plenty of 
money you place yourself at rick of being sued, because you have money.  
Remember that lawsuits generally happen because the person suing wants 
to scam money out of the person being sued, rather than because a wrong 
needs to be righted.


You can take out insurance (professional indemnity and public liability 
are the common ones, AIUI) and this will protect you from most things.  
If you work under a limited company then you are personally protected 
from MOST things you would otherwise not be protected from as an 
unlimited (sole trader/partnership etc) company, but you might want to 
take out insurance under your company name anyway to protect *it*.


Talk to an insurance broker, they can give you the details if you're 
interested.  The figures vary, but for example I asked for a quote on PI 
and PL for what is essentially selling my own time as a 
developer/sysadmin and it came to roughly $200/month.  I have a number 
for at least one insurance broker, let me know if you want it.


Um, so yeah, sometimes setting up a Pty Ltd can be simpler :)

But there are other advantages.  For example you can set up a bank 
account under the company's name.  Can't do that under a sole trader.  
I'm sure there are other little things that I don't know about too.



Also the 80/20 rule don't worry about it.
The tax office only gets upset when you try to defraud it of tax.
If you pay your correct amount of tax then the tax office does not 
care at all about how many contracts you have.
I had one and only one contract with a government dept for 8 years and 
no problem. I paid the correct amount of tax.
It may well happen that you get a good client for a year or so. What 
is the tax dept. going to do? Say get a job elsewhere? No. Pay the 
right tax and you won't hear a word.


Are you trying to claim rent or electricity, for example?  The 80/20 
rule just means there are certain things you can't claim and other 
benefits you don't get.  And there are other rules which give you the 
same benefits anyway.  I'm sure there is a way to start a Pty Ltd 
company and work without payment for 12 months or more.  Many companies 
start without making money as soon as they start :)


But, IANAL and IANAA, yadda yadda yadda :)

Mick.

--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-10-01 Thread Michael (Micksa) Slade




Scott wrote:

  On Friday 22 September 2006 13:33, Adam Kennedy wrote:
  
  

  What I would look out for is recruiting firms. I had one that
placed me once, into a job I wasn't particularly suited to.
They took 15% from the employer for that.  Some time after I
was chatting with them and they said "oh, if we'd known you
were a networking person we could have got you a lot more" --
ie, they hadn't even read my CV for their 15% and they were
really working for the employer, not for me.
  

One of the Perl maintainers did an analysis of this situation a few
years ago.

His conclusion was that their intrinsic interests don't belong with
either party.

  
  
  
  
They don't work for the companies, and they don't work for the people
they find jobs for.

The remuneration structure of the industry means they work only for
themselves, and the situation is set up for them to abuse both sides and
use every trick they can to do so.

  
  
Recruiting Firms do try to keep both parties Happy!!

It is important for us to place people in jobs that :
1 - They are capable of doing!!
2 - That they enjoy doing!!
3 - In a Place they want to work

For the Client we Try to Match
1 - The Skill they ask for
2 - A Reliable Person
3 - At a Remuneration Level they can afford!!
  

[snip]

Okay, thankyou for the marketing spiel.

I've been dealing with recruiters for the past few weeks. Now I'm
going to vent.

I somewhat disagree with Adam, I think there is *some* incentive for
recruiters to work in the interests of their clients (to get repeat
business and earn a reputation), but really that's it. Recruiters are
people hoarders and glorified resume databases. Because of the nature
of most contracts the employees and candidates get the smelly end of
the stick. *Some* recruiters simply ask for a percentage on the
employee's salary so that's not so bad, but others are more secretive
and try to maximise their cut by being a "mediator" for negotiation
between candidate and client. They have no time for candidates that
are too assertive about their abilities - a person who won't negotiate
their rate is harder to get in and thus less worth their time. They
also have no time for candidates that are going for a few jobs at once
for similar reasons. They're uptight and on edge because of their job
and all this gets let out on candidates because it's the *companies*
that pay. They'll try all sorts of bullshit on candidates to get them
to take the job for less or whatever to get their cut, and generally
give them no respect. The only candidates that get mentioned to
clients are those that have "x years using skill y" on their resumes,
because that's all recruiters have time to discover - general talent,
resourcefulness and initiative and so on are deplorably overlooked.

But I agree with Adam to this extent: the end result of this is that
companies will have a lot of trouble getting the really *good* people
out of recruiters, because these people won't go anywhere near
recruiters for the reasons stated above. It makes a commodity market
out of the labor market, which it really isn't.

To summarise, recruiters suck.

Mick.



-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-10-01 Thread Mark Phillips
Hi All,

And while we are bitching about recruiters...


What is the worst cut you have seen in the industry?
For those people who don't deal with recruiters much there are two ways
they get their money.

The first is a one off cost to the employing company as a percentage of
the yearly salary

The second is a additional hourly rate added to your hourly rate which
is then charged to the employing company.
 

My worst are:

1) Paying a cut off the top to an agent (type 2) and then finding he
charged the employing company a one off charge (type 1). Essentially he
was double dipping.

2) Over 20% increase above my hourly rate charged to an employer.

3) A agent who convinced me to work on a daily rate while charging at a
hourly rate. My overtime went into his pocket.

Needless to say once these contracts were finished I moved.

Making a point to the employer on why you are leaving and making sure
they are aware that you stuck around to finish the project can mean
repeat business after the contract with the recruiters expires.

But NOT all recruiters have questionable morals. One in particular was
happy with what was a mutually acceptable rate. The relationship lasted
about 2 1/2 years, with multiple contract renewals, before she moved on.

Mark (No I'm not bitter, just wiser and less trusting)


On Mon, 2006-10-02 at 12:22 +1000, Michael (Micksa) Slade wrote:
 Scott wrote: 
  On Friday 22 September 2006 13:33, Adam Kennedy wrote:

What I would look out for is recruiting firms. I had one that
placed me once, into a job I wasn't particularly suited to.
They took 15% from the employer for that.  Some time after I
was chatting with them and they said oh, if we'd known you
were a networking person we could have got you a lot more --
ie, they hadn't even read my CV for their 15% and they were
really working for the employer, not for me.
  
   One of the Perl maintainers did an analysis of this situation a few
   years ago.
   
   His conclusion was that their intrinsic interests don't belong with
   either party.
   
  

   They don't work for the companies, and they don't work for the people
   they find jobs for.
   
   The remuneration structure of the industry means they work only for
   themselves, and the situation is set up for them to abuse both sides and
   use every trick they can to do so.
   
  
  Recruiting Firms do try to keep both parties Happy!!
  
  It is important for us to place people in jobs that :
  1 - They are capable of doing!!
  2 - That they enjoy doing!!
  3 - In a Place they want to work
  
  For the Client we Try to Match
  1 - The Skill they ask for
  2 - A Reliable Person
  3 - At a Remuneration Level they can afford!!

 [snip]
 
 Okay, thankyou for the marketing spiel.
 
 I've been dealing with recruiters for the past few weeks.  Now I'm
 going to vent.
 
 I somewhat disagree with Adam, I think there is *some* incentive for
 recruiters to work in the interests of their clients (to get repeat
 business and earn a reputation), but really that's it.   Recruiters
 are people hoarders and glorified resume databases.  Because of the
 nature of most contracts the employees and candidates get the smelly
 end of the stick.  *Some* recruiters simply ask for a percentage on
 the employee's salary so that's not so bad, but others are more
 secretive and try to maximise their cut by being a mediator for
 negotiation between candidate and client.  They have no time for
 candidates that are too assertive about their abilities - a person who
 won't negotiate their rate is harder to get in and thus less worth
 their time.  They also have no time for candidates that are going for
 a few jobs at once for similar reasons.  They're uptight and on edge
 because of their job and all this gets let out on candidates because
 it's the *companies* that pay.  They'll try all sorts of bullshit on
 candidates to get them to take the job for less or whatever to get
 their cut, and generally give them no respect.  The only candidates
 that get mentioned to clients are those that have x years using skill
 y on their resumes, because that's all recruiters have time to
 discover - general talent, resourcefulness and initiative and so on
 are deplorably overlooked.
 
 But I agree with Adam to this extent: the end result of this is that
 companies will have a lot of trouble getting the really *good* people
 out of recruiters, because these people won't go anywhere near
 recruiters for the reasons stated above.  It makes a commodity market
 out of the labor market, which it really isn't.
 
 To summarise, recruiters suck.
 
 Mick.
 
 -- 
 SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
 Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-27 Thread david
On Wed, 2006-09-27 at 14:54 +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote:
 
 Gavin Carr wrote:
  On Wed, Sep 27, 2006 at 12:28:16PM +1000, Jacinta Richardson wrote:
  Rev Simon Rumble wrote:
  That sounds doable.  What accounting package, if you don't mind?
  We use gnucash, but SQL Ledger ( http://www.sql-ledger.org/ ) has been 
  getting
  press.  We were toying with the idea of moving over, but we haven't yet.
  
  I'm a SQL Ledger user too, but there's been an interesting fork in the
  project in the last month to six weeks, due to the perceived lack of
  openness and responsiveness of SQL Ledger's author. So you might want 
  to check out http://www.ledgersmb.org/ as well if you're considering
  moving.
 
 This is both an interesting and concerning twist that I was not aware 
 of.  Do you have any further info other than the link?
 

There was a lot of gnashing of teeth about a perceived security hole in
SQL-Ledger. Two guys posted notice of the hole but the author did not
appear to do anything about it, so a couple of weeks ago they decided to
write their own fix and fork.

The author of SQL-Ledger basically writes the entire package on his own
under GPL and sells support and documentation to make money.

He is very active developing SQL-Ledger, but I have to say that he has
very poor human communication skills. It will be very interesting to see
if the fork has legs. So far I'm sticking to the SQL-Ledger version, but
there is some very interesting chatter on the ledgersmb mailing list, so
it will be a space worth watching. 

I guess it's a classic GPL fork situation. 

 
  
  Cheers,
  Gavin
  
 
 -- 
 Howard.
 LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people http://lannetlinux.com
 When you want a computer system that works, just choose Linux;
 When you want a computer system that works, just, choose Microsoft.
 --
 Flatter government, not fatter government; abolish the Australian states.
 

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-26 Thread Jacinta Richardson
Dazza has raised some good points, but also a few on which my experience
differs.  Be aware that I'm based in Victoria, so it's possible that the laws
are sufficiently different between these two states to account for the 
difference.

DaZZa wrote:

 Maintaining a pty ltd {I.E. acn} company is expensive. You're up for a
 minimum of around $2000 a year in accountant fees, fees maintain the
 company name, annual returns etc. You don't HAVE to do it this way -
 but a lot fo contracting agencies still insist on it.

I don't deal with contracting agencies, but there's no way that Perl Training
Australia pays that much in accountant fees, company name and annual returns.
We pay ASIC their yearly fee (about $216 if I remember correctly) and whoever
manages business names their fee every 2 or 3 years (about $50).

We do our own tax returns (they're easier to do than the personal returns once
you've read through the handbook a few times) and our own BAS.  We tried the
accountant thing, but found we wanted to be more in control of our business, and
they weren't earning their money.

If you choose to run as a company I do suggest getting an accountant to set up
the business for you though.  It'll probably cost you $2500, and they'll quote
you $2000 a year for the above stuff; but be aware that if you're happy to keep
accurate financial records (record your receipts etc) then you should be able to
 do everything else yourself.

For what it's worth we probably spend about 3 hours a month (maximum) entering
invoices and receipts into our accounting package, about 2 minutes a quarter
doing our BAS and maybe 1 hour a year doing the tax return.

 You've also got to consider that you have to run your own
 superannuation if you decide to go down the company route - and you do
 NOT want to fall behind or neglect it - APRA/Tax are ruthless about
 chasing super input - more so than chasing tax.

At least in Victoria this isn't quite so.  We use the super funds that our
employees were already signed up with, and just deposit the money every quarter.
 If you're keeping good records of the salaries paid out then it's not too hard
to make sure that the super goes out when it needs to.  Running your own super
fund (if you have to/choose to go down that route definitely requires an
accountant however.

 The best advice I can give is find a damn good accountant - because
 you're going to need one. 

I agree with this entirely.  Whether you use the services of an accountant for
all of your business needs, or whether you do some things yourself; you should
definitely be friends with an accountant so that you can get them to sanity
check anything if you're concerned.   They're also really good at helping you
decide if a company or trust or sole trader is the best option for you.  Talk to
an accountant.

Perl Training Australia ran as a sole trader for several years and we had no
troubles whatsoever with either our consulting or training offerings.  Getting a
business name isn't hard; so make sure you get one if you do go down the sole
trader route (it's easier, cheaper and easily converts into a company later).

All the best,

Jacinta


-- 
   (`-''-/).___..--''`-._  |  Jacinta Richardson |
`6_ 6  )   `-.  ( ).`-.__.`)  |  Perl Training Australia|
(_Y_.)'  ._   )  `._ `. ``-..-'   |  +61 3 9354 6001|
  _..`--'_..-_/  /--'_.' ,'   | [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
 (il),-''  (li),'  ((!.-' |   www.perltraining.com.au   |
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-26 Thread Rev Simon Rumble
This one time, at band camp, Jacinta Richardson wrote:

 For what it's worth we probably spend about 3 hours a month (maximum) entering
 invoices and receipts into our accounting package, about 2 minutes a quarter
 doing our BAS and maybe 1 hour a year doing the tax return.

That sounds doable.  What accounting package, if you don't mind?

 At least in Victoria this isn't quite so.  We use the super funds that our
 employees were already signed up with, and just deposit the money every 
 quarter.
  If you're keeping good records of the salaries paid out then it's not too 
 hard
 to make sure that the super goes out when it needs to.  Running your own super
 fund (if you have to/choose to go down that route definitely requires an
 accountant however.

Yeah I think that's national.  It only pays to have your own if you've 
got a buttload of money in the fund.

 I agree with this entirely.  Whether you use the services of an accountant for
 all of your business needs, or whether you do some things yourself; you should
 definitely be friends with an accountant so that you can get them to sanity
 check anything if you're concerned.   They're also really good at helping you
 decide if a company or trust or sole trader is the best option for you.  Talk 
 to
 an accountant.

I'm seeing an accountant tomorrow.  And I sign the contract for the job 
tomorrow too :)

Thanks for the info everyone!

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.rumble.net

The Tourist Engineer
Just because you're on holiday, doesn't mean you're not a geek.
http://engineer.openguides.org/

 Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-26 Thread Jacinta Richardson
Rev Simon Rumble wrote:
 This one time, at band camp, Jacinta Richardson wrote:
 
 
For what it's worth we probably spend about 3 hours a month (maximum) entering
invoices and receipts into our accounting package, about 2 minutes a quarter
doing our BAS and maybe 1 hour a year doing the tax return.
 
 
 That sounds doable.  What accounting package, if you don't mind?

We use gnucash, but SQL Ledger ( http://www.sql-ledger.org/ ) has been getting
press.  We were toying with the idea of moving over, but we haven't yet.

All the best,

J

-- 
   (`-''-/).___..--''`-._  |  Jacinta Richardson |
`6_ 6  )   `-.  ( ).`-.__.`)  |  Perl Training Australia|
(_Y_.)'  ._   )  `._ `. ``-..-'   |  +61 3 9354 6001|
  _..`--'_..-_/  /--'_.' ,'   | [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
 (il),-''  (li),'  ((!.-' |   www.perltraining.com.au   |
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-26 Thread david
On Wed, 2006-09-27 at 12:28 +1000, Jacinta Richardson wrote:
 Rev Simon Rumble wrote:
  This one time, at band camp, Jacinta Richardson wrote:
  
  
 For what it's worth we probably spend about 3 hours a month (maximum) 
 entering
 invoices and receipts into our accounting package, about 2 minutes a quarter
 doing our BAS and maybe 1 hour a year doing the tax return.
  
  
  That sounds doable.  What accounting package, if you don't mind?
 
 We use gnucash, but SQL Ledger ( http://www.sql-ledger.org/ ) has been getting
 press.  We were toying with the idea of moving over, but we haven't yet.

I've been using SQL Ledger for some years with general success. However
sometimes I think folks get carried away with accounting packages. A
carefully constructed spreadsheet may be all that's needed for a one
person operation.



-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-26 Thread Joseph Goncalves
 There is a good reason to get a PTY Limited company in that is says
 LIMITED. In short it means that if you do something WRONG they can
 only sue the COMPANY for every cent it has.
 Leaving YOU with your house and car and other possessions intact.

 If you only have a business name and you do something WRONG then they
 can not only sue every cent from your BUSINESS but ALSO every cent
 YOU own INCLUDING your house and car and other possessions.
 We are not talking about deliberate wrongdoing here just stuffing up.
 So it's more expensive for a PTY Limited company but you have that
 protection. The company is treated like an individual and the company
 cops the flack. Not you. Your choice. Is it worth the risk in these
 litigious days?
Doesn't professional insurance cover and Director liability blur the 
line so that for small operations Sole Trader business option is 
appropriate and for larger operations Company option is appropriate?

--
Joey
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-26 Thread Gavin Carr
On Wed, Sep 27, 2006 at 12:28:16PM +1000, Jacinta Richardson wrote:
 Rev Simon Rumble wrote:
  That sounds doable.  What accounting package, if you don't mind?
 
 We use gnucash, but SQL Ledger ( http://www.sql-ledger.org/ ) has been getting
 press.  We were toying with the idea of moving over, but we haven't yet.

I'm a SQL Ledger user too, but there's been an interesting fork in the
project in the last month to six weeks, due to the perceived lack of
openness and responsiveness of SQL Ledger's author. So you might want 
to check out http://www.ledgersmb.org/ as well if you're considering
moving.

Cheers,
Gavin

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-23 Thread david
On Sat, 2006-09-23 at 09:06 +1000, SkoZombie wrote:
  though, these days, lawyers claim against both company *and* director
  personaly...
  
  and, win...

I'm presently faced with exactly this situation. I've asked four lawyers
and a barister and so far got 5 opinions, all heavily qualified - eg I
think xyz, but then again, and in case maybe but maybe not.

Wouldn't you love to see the kind of program a lawyer would write?

I'm not sure I would rely on Pty Ltd to save your bacon.

IANAL etc etc (then again, why would I want to be?)




  
  I'm not a lawyer, but, I think, in case of 'one person company' some of
  the argument to justify it is, well, that it is 'one person company'
  
  did I say I'm not a lawyer ?
 
 I work a bit in the mining industry, where you do from time to time get
 a fatality, and desperate insurance firms/lawyers look for anyone to
 blame and sue, so I've talked to the directors of the company and picked
 up a bit of their strategies.
 
 If you think you're exposed to claims, the first step is to start a P/L.
 This separates your personal liability from that of your company (ie,
 what you do for work). Director's liability, from what I can work out,
 is pretty well limited to their function as a director, not a worker. A
 director is liable for OHS stuff, ensuring the company isn't trading
 insolvent, etc. Just because you deleted a client's database that wasn't
 backed up, doesn't mean that they can sue you through directors
 liability.
 
 The other key arse covering exercise is getting Public Indemnity
 insurance. While different companies will require you to have different
 amounts, $5Mil is probably the smallest amount you should get.
 
 Personally, I don't have PI cover. I am included on the policy of
 companies I do relatively 'high risk' work for, and all my other work is
 programming for clients whom I have a good, ongoing relationship. So a
 P/L company structure gives me enough protection.
 
 You've got to be able to sleep at night, do as much as you feel you
 should, and get some professional advice as to your potential exposure.
 
 -Andrew

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-23 Thread Alan L Tyree
On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 17:04:48 +1000
david [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 On Sat, 2006-09-23 at 09:06 +1000, SkoZombie wrote:
   though, these days, lawyers claim against both company *and*
   director personaly...
   
   and, win...
 
 I'm presently faced with exactly this situation. I've asked four
 lawyers and a barister and so far got 5 opinions, all heavily
 qualified - eg I think xyz, but then again, and in case maybe but
 maybe not.
 
 Wouldn't you love to see the kind of program a lawyer would write?
 
 I'm not sure I would rely on Pty Ltd to save your bacon.
 
 IANAL etc etc (then again, why would I want to be?)

Well, on the one hand  :-)

SNIP
-- 
Alan L Tyreehttp://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan
Tel: +61 2 4782 2670Mobile: +61 427 486 206
Fax: +61 2 4782 7092FWD: 615662
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-22 Thread Ken Wilson
The benefit of the Pty Ltd company is the limited liability. Limited to 
the share capital you put into it ($1 shelf company), not everything 
that you own and earn. and a slightly better tax rate depending what you 
earn, maybe some more deductions for tax, but offset with higher 
administrative/compliance costs and greater complexity/paperwork.

Ken

Jeff Waugh wrote:

quote who=Tim Lloyd


Hardware you can probably depreciate personally anyway.

The big benefit is writing off travel/home office expenses.


You definitely don't need a Pty Ltd to claim for business related expenses!

- Jeff


--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-22 Thread Voytek Eymont

On Thu, September 21, 2006 9:00 pm, Ken Wilson wrote:
 The benefit of the Pty Ltd company is the limited liability. Limited to
 the share capital you put into it ($1 shelf company), not everything that
 you own and earn.

yes.

though, these days, lawyers claim against both company *and* director
personaly...

and, win...

I'm not a lawyer, but, I think, in case of 'one person company' some of
the argument to justify it is, well, that it is 'one person company'

did I say I'm not a lawyer ?


-- 
Voytek

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-22 Thread Scott
On Friday 22 September 2006 13:33, Adam Kennedy wrote:
  What I would look out for is recruiting firms. I had one that
  placed me once, into a job I wasn't particularly suited to.
  They took 15% from the employer for that.  Some time after I
  was chatting with them and they said oh, if we'd known you
  were a networking person we could have got you a lot more --
  ie, they hadn't even read my CV for their 15% and they were
  really working for the employer, not for me.

 One of the Perl maintainers did an analysis of this situation a few
 years ago.

 His conclusion was that their intrinsic interests don't belong with
 either party.

 They don't work for the companies, and they don't work for the people
 they find jobs for.

 The remuneration structure of the industry means they work only for
 themselves, and the situation is set up for them to abuse both sides and
 use every trick they can to do so.

Recruiting Firms do try to keep both parties Happy!!

It is important for us to place people in jobs that :
1 - They are capable of doing!!
2 - That they enjoy doing!!
3 - In a Place they want to work

For the Client we Try to Match
1 - The Skill they ask for
2 - A Reliable Person
3 - At a Remuneration Level they can afford!!

If the Recruiter you are using does not try to place you in roles you want to 
be doing, then go to a different agency. If you are doing jobs that you 
don't like then you as the candidate need to be more discriminating as to the 
roles you accept. As the candidate you have the choice, to accept or decline 
an assignment, if it does not suit you. 

Most decent agencies will do there best to keep the candidates happy as 
possible because it is difficult to recruit Good People, if you piss off your 
candidates you have no people to offer for roles from your clients, if you 
piss off the client no roles for the candidates. Have to try to keep both 
sides happy. Those agencies that have been long established, WILL listen to 
what you want, and try to keep you happy, (and well paid).

I regards to the contracting and setting up a company, you may find it 
difficult to get assignments in the larger organisation or through an agency 
if you are a sole trader, as workers comp and insurances get a bit dicey. If 
you are getting your own clients then they will be wanting to see all your 
insurances up front, especially Workers Comp, if you are working from their 
premises, on a regular basis and could be deemed an employee under the 
workers compensation act.

Other things to do Register at more than one agency if you want to be able to 
discriminate more, talk to your consultant about the type of assignments you 
want, prefer, skills you have and want to develop. It is important to 
communicate with your consultant to get the Jobs you want!!.

(as you may have guessed I do recruiting, not in IT at present but the rules 
are the same no matter what industry)

-- 
Beam Me Up Scotty!! - Never Said
Scott
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-22 Thread SkoZombie
 though, these days, lawyers claim against both company *and* director
 personaly...
 
 and, win...
 
 I'm not a lawyer, but, I think, in case of 'one person company' some of
 the argument to justify it is, well, that it is 'one person company'
 
 did I say I'm not a lawyer ?

I work a bit in the mining industry, where you do from time to time get
a fatality, and desperate insurance firms/lawyers look for anyone to
blame and sue, so I've talked to the directors of the company and picked
up a bit of their strategies.

If you think you're exposed to claims, the first step is to start a P/L.
This separates your personal liability from that of your company (ie,
what you do for work). Director's liability, from what I can work out,
is pretty well limited to their function as a director, not a worker. A
director is liable for OHS stuff, ensuring the company isn't trading
insolvent, etc. Just because you deleted a client's database that wasn't
backed up, doesn't mean that they can sue you through directors
liability.

The other key arse covering exercise is getting Public Indemnity
insurance. While different companies will require you to have different
amounts, $5Mil is probably the smallest amount you should get.

Personally, I don't have PI cover. I am included on the policy of
companies I do relatively 'high risk' work for, and all my other work is
programming for clients whom I have a good, ongoing relationship. So a
P/L company structure gives me enough protection.

You've got to be able to sleep at night, do as much as you feel you
should, and get some professional advice as to your potential exposure.

-Andrew
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-22 Thread Adam Kennedy

The remuneration structure of the industry means they work only for
themselves, and the situation is set up for them to abuse both sides and
use every trick they can to do so.


Recruiting Firms do try to keep both parties Happy!!

It is important for us to place people in jobs that :
1 - They are capable of doing!!
2 - That they enjoy doing!!
3 - In a Place they want to work

For the Client we Try to Match
1 - The Skill they ask for
2 - A Reliable Person
3 - At a Remuneration Level they can afford!!


(snip)

(as you may have guessed I do recruiting, not in IT at present but the rules 
are the same no matter what industry)


But that wasn't what I said Scott.

The problem is that, regardless of the intent of any single person or 
company, the way in which the industry is structured economically does 
not provide any across-the-board economic incentive for the industry to 
act in the best interests of either the company or the staff member, 
which leaves the industry open to all manner of shoddy practises.


As I understand it, it makes no difference to your income whether you 
place someone good or bad at the job, or you do it in a day or a month.


So apart from long term reputation, what incentive is there to place the 
best person? Is that going to matter to a single employee in a large 
recruitment firm who themself has no interest in the long term 
reputation of the company?


Adam K
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-22 Thread Ben Donohue
If you do something malicious as a director then they can get behind the 
company and sue the Directors for their houses.
But this has to be proven. If you are just incompetent or unfortunate 
then it's pretty much only the company that cops it.

IANAL but that has been my official advice.

Also if you are going to get a PTY Limited company or even a business 
name then it's also a good idea to get a domain name to match.

You may want it one day...

Ben




Voytek Eymont wrote:

On Thu, September 21, 2006 9:00 pm, Ken Wilson wrote:
  

The benefit of the Pty Ltd company is the limited liability. Limited to
the share capital you put into it ($1 shelf company), not everything that
you own and earn.



yes.

though, these days, lawyers claim against both company *and* director
personaly...

and, win...

I'm not a lawyer, but, I think, in case of 'one person company' some of
the argument to justify it is, well, that it is 'one person company'

did I say I'm not a lawyer ?


  

--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


[SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Rev Simon Rumble
Hi folks.

I'm about to start contracting and it seems it's a lot more efficient to 
have things wrapped into a company.  I've been looking around and seeing 
stuff about the 80/20 rule and the like, which determines whether you 
can apply company tax instead of personal income tax, and other stuff.

So does anyone out there have any (IANAA) advice on such things?  Any 
recommendations of accountants to get advice from?  Ideally accountants 
who can deal with free-software ledger systems...

Oh and yes, those of you wondering, I'm back in Sydney.

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.rumble.net

The Tourist Engineer
Geeks need vacations too.
http://engineer.openguides.org/

If Jesus saves, why is he always asking for money?
 - landoverbaptist.com
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread DaZZa

On 9/21/06, Rev Simon Rumble [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Hi folks.

I'm about to start contracting and it seems it's a lot more efficient to
have things wrapped into a company.  I've been looking around and seeing
stuff about the 80/20 rule and the like, which determines whether you
can apply company tax instead of personal income tax, and other stuff.

So does anyone out there have any (IANAA) advice on such things?  Any
recommendations of accountants to get advice from?  Ideally accountants
who can deal with free-software ledger systems...


IANAA, but I've been there.

Maintaining a pty ltd {I.E. acn} company is expensive. You're up for a
minimum of around $2000 a year in accountant fees, fees maintain the
company name, annual returns etc. You don't HAVE to do it this way -
but a lot fo contracting agencies still insist on it. You can go down
the ARBN route - I have no idea what that costs. You can check out the
hoops you need to jump through here

http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic_infoco.nsf/byheadline/Starting+a+company+or+business?openDocument

You've also got to consider that you have to run your own
superannuation if you decide to go down the company route - and you do
NOT want to fall behind or neglect it - APRA/Tax are ruthless about
chasing super input - more so than chasing tax. Of course, this means
another lot of accountant fees, as the super fund has to be audited
every year and have its own tax return. This is on top of the company
tax - from memory, I was paying about $2000 a year for the company tax
matters, and probably $2500 a year for the super fund tax matters, as
they were more complex.

The rules for contracting have moved on from the old days of the 80/20
rule, especially with the current government focus on
outsourcing/contracting, but the basic rule of thumb is - if you're
expecting a contract to last more than 12 months, you could be in
trouble with the tax office.

Note that I said COULD - it usually comes down to individual
determinations. If the company who is employing you can provide proof
you are a genuine contractor, not a backdoor employee, then the tax
office will overlook it - but it can be a nasty route to prove.

The best advice I can give is find a damn good accountant - because
you're going to need one. The rules are horrendous, and change each
and every single year.

There are advantages - you can buy a lot of business related stuff
and pay for it pre-tax - saving you loads in tax - but you have to be
careful that the stuff is related to the industry you're in, or
genuinely necessary for your business. Again - talk to an accountant
about stuff you can do - for example, if you work from home, determine
a percentage of your rent/mortgage that is used by your business
{space, time, electricity etc} and pay for that from the business,
pre-tax.

Did I mention you should talk to an accountant? :-)

OK, enough off-topic wafle. Talk to an accountant, OK?

DaZZa
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Jeff Waugh
quote who=Rev Simon Rumble

 I'm about to start contracting and it seems it's a lot more efficient to 
 have things wrapped into a company.

Not sure it's worth it for a small operation (sole trader or partners); you
can just get an ABN and get going.

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2007: Sydney, Australia   http://lca2007.linux.org.au/
 
MySQL supporters are like people who believe that the moon landings
were a hoax. No matter what contrary information they're confronted
 with, they still consider MySQL to be the best. - ttfkam
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Ben Donohue

Hi Simon,

Ive been both a contractor and also permanent staff on and off for many 
years...


There is a good reason to get a PTY Limited company in that is says LIMITED.
In short it means that if you do something WRONG they can only sue the 
COMPANY for every cent it has.

Leaving YOU with your house and car and other possessions intact.

If you only have a business name and you do something WRONG then they 
can not only sue every cent from your BUSINESS but ALSO every cent YOU 
own INCLUDING your house and car and other possessions.
We are not talking about deliberate wrongdoing here just stuffing up. So 
it's more expensive for a PTY Limited company but you have that 
protection. The company is treated like an individual and the company 
cops the flack. Not you. Your choice. Is it worth the risk in these 
litigious days?


Also the 80/20 rule don't worry about it.
The tax office only gets upset when you try to defraud it of tax.
If you pay your correct amount of tax then the tax office does not care 
at all about how many contracts you have.
I had one and only one contract with a government dept for 8 years and 
no problem. I paid the correct amount of tax.
It may well happen that you get a good client for a year or so. What is 
the tax dept. going to do? Say get a job elsewhere? No. Pay the right 
tax and you won't hear a word.


Contact me off-list for a couple of accountants you can choose from. 
Hope you'll like doing BAS statements!

Ben




Rev Simon Rumble wrote:

Hi folks.

I'm about to start contracting and it seems it's a lot more efficient to 
have things wrapped into a company.  I've been looking around and seeing 
stuff about the 80/20 rule and the like, which determines whether you 
can apply company tax instead of personal income tax, and other stuff.


So does anyone out there have any (IANAA) advice on such things?  Any 
recommendations of accountants to get advice from?  Ideally accountants 
who can deal with free-software ledger systems...


Oh and yes, those of you wondering, I'm back in Sydney.

  

--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Tim Lloyd

Rev Simon Rumble wrote:

Hi folks.

I'm about to start contracting and it seems it's a lot more efficient to 
have things wrapped into a company.  I've been looking around and seeing 
stuff about the 80/20 rule and the like, which determines whether you 
can apply company tax instead of personal income tax, and other stuff.


So does anyone out there have any (IANAA) advice on such things?  Any 
recommendations of accountants to get advice from?  Ideally accountants 
who can deal with free-software ledger systems...


Oh and yes, those of you wondering, I'm back in Sydney.

  
Unless you have a really good reason, don't do it. There are plenty of 
costs associated with your own company (super, public liability, 
accountant, etc.). Unless you can genuinely make write offs then there 
is precious little benefit and you are going to have to pay tax on your 
profits at some stage.


Hardware you can probably depreciate personally anyway.

The big benefit is writing off travel/home office expenses. But, if you 
can't prove that you are servicing a number of clients then you /could/ 
get stung by the tax people.


Best off to work through an agency and let them fight your battles for you.

Incidentally, I am intending to return to contracting next year and that 
is what I will be doing!

--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Jeff Waugh
quote who=Tim Lloyd

 Hardware you can probably depreciate personally anyway.
 
 The big benefit is writing off travel/home office expenses.

You definitely don't need a Pty Ltd to claim for business related expenses!

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2007: Sydney, Australia   http://lca2007.linux.org.au/
 
   Do you know what [television news ownership] means to me? It gives me
the political muscle I need. - Kerry Packer
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Gavin Carr
Rev Simon Rumble wrote:
Hi folks.

I'm about to start contracting and it seems it's a lot more efficient to 
have things wrapped into a company.  I've been looking around and seeing 
stuff about the 80/20 rule and the like, which determines whether you 
can apply company tax instead of personal income tax, and other stuff.

So does anyone out there have any (IANAA) advice on such things?  Any 
recommendations of accountants to get advice from?  Ideally accountants 
who can deal with free-software ledger systems...

Oh and yes, those of you wondering, I'm back in Sydney.

Do give a contrary point of view to a few others, I think doing the 
company typically _is_ worthwhile, overall. If you shop around for
accountants and are willing to do most of the book-keeping stuff 
yourself, costs can be kept pretty modest in my experience - I pay
 $1000 pa all up for accounting and company fees etc.

On the benefits side you get limited liability protection, and if you
do have multiple clients (or can stay on the right side of the ATO 
via the various 80/20 type tests) then you can retain earnings in the
company taxed at 30% max. That's not as big a deal as it was before 
the last round of tax threshold changes, but it still can be useful,
depending on how much money you make. 

As others have mentioned, super is an issue as well, but I actually
like the control DIY-super allows, for all the costs and admin
overheads.

Lots of trade-offs, of course, but I'm very happy as a P/L.

Cheers,
Gavin

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Alan L Tyree
On Thu, 21 Sep 2006 18:25:10 +1000
DaZZa [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 On 9/21/06, Rev Simon Rumble [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  Hi folks.
 
  I'm about to start contracting and it seems it's a lot more
  efficient to have things wrapped into a company.  I've been looking
  around and seeing stuff about the 80/20 rule and the like, which
  determines whether you can apply company tax instead of personal
  income tax, and other stuff.
 
  So does anyone out there have any (IANAA) advice on such things?
  Any recommendations of accountants to get advice from?  Ideally
  accountants who can deal with free-software ledger systems...
 
 IANAA, but I've been there.
 
SNIP
 
 There are advantages - you can buy a lot of business related stuff
 and pay for it pre-tax - saving you loads in tax - but you have to be
 careful that the stuff is related to the industry you're in, or
 genuinely necessary for your business. Again - talk to an accountant
 about stuff you can do - for example, if you work from home, determine
 a percentage of your rent/mortgage that is used by your business
 {space, time, electricity etc} and pay for that from the business,
 pre-tax.

Caution on claiming the home office - It may mean that a part of your
home will be subject to capital gains when you decide to sell.

Talk to an accountant :-)

 
 Did I mention you should talk to an accountant? :-)
 
 OK, enough off-topic wafle. Talk to an accountant, OK?
 
 DaZZa
 -- 
 SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
 Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
 


-- 
Alan L Tyreehttp://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan
Tel: +61 2 4782 2670Mobile: +61 427 486 206
Fax: +61 2 4782 7092FWD: 615662
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Michael Lake

Hi all

Jeff wrote:

Not sure it's worth it for a small operation (sole trader or partners); you
can just get an ABN and get going.


Jeff gives good advice. Look at setting up as a Sole Trader initially and later 
moving to a company if your turnover justifies it. Being a Sole Trader means you have 
an ABN, a Registered name for the Business and thus other companies, suppliers, and 
clients look upon you more favorably than if your an individual. I have found that 
you are treated just like you represent a company if you are a Sole Trader. And Sole 
Trader will only cost about $200 for the Business name, rego setup.


(My business Speleonics http://www.speleonics.com.au/business/ is a Sole 
Trader.)

Mike
--
Michael Lake
Computational Research Support Unit
Science Faculty, UTS
Ph: 9514 2238



--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Jeff Waugh
quote who=Michael Lake

 (My business Speleonics http://www.speleonics.com.au/business/ is a Sole
 Trader.)

I *knew* all that cave-diving was aimed at something. Never thought it would
be trafficking souls to the dark lord.

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2007: Sydney, Australia   http://lca2007.linux.org.au/
 
  Perl - The Movie
Starring 'Weird' Al Yankovic
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Adam Kennedy

To throw in my situation, I'm a Pty Ltd contractor/consultant.

It costs me $2,000 (although increasing now as I do more things) a year 
to keep the company going, but the cleanliness of the seperation between 
personal and company is something I find refreshing.


As I see it, there's a couple of clear situations.

If you think you will end up with a product of some sort in the process 
of your contracting/consulting and you ever want to sell out, you need a 
company, as early as possible (to keep intellectual property stuff clear).


If you think that you are going to end up hiring subcontractors or staff 
(if you move more into the consulting/development direction that just 
straight labour hire) you probably want a company too, just for the 
accounting cleanliness.


Other than that, if the $2000 a year doesn't matter much, then you can 
go either way. If $2000 a year matters a lot, then don't go for a company.


Either way, you can delay it if you want to and switch later, unless you 
go the product/selling-the-business route.


Adam K

Rev Simon Rumble wrote:

Hi folks.

I'm about to start contracting and it seems it's a lot more efficient to 
have things wrapped into a company.  I've been looking around and seeing 
stuff about the 80/20 rule and the like, which determines whether you 
can apply company tax instead of personal income tax, and other stuff.


So does anyone out there have any (IANAA) advice on such things?  Any 
recommendations of accountants to get advice from?  Ideally accountants 
who can deal with free-software ledger systems...


Oh and yes, those of you wondering, I'm back in Sydney.


--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Adam Kennedy
If you think that you are going to end up hiring subcontractors or staff 
(if you move more into the consulting/development direction that just 
straight labour hire) you probably want a company too, just for the 
accounting cleanliness.


Ook!

That should read consulting/development direction, rather than just 
straight labour hire.


Adam K
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Glen Turner


Interesting discussion.  One thing I'd like to add is that
you might want to inquire of your potential customers about
their requirement for you to hold insurance.

Some governments require that you hold a significant amount
(from memory, enough insurance for a $20m claim) and this
was a major expense for someone I know who runs a small
management consultancy.


My experience is that the contractors who do the same work
as I do are significantly better off than I am. I'm not
sure if that's because companies expect to pay contractors
more or if the financial arrangements are superior.

Where they seem to be slightly worse off than me is in the
superannuation. The industry super schemes seem to be a lot,
lot better. So it might be worthwhile checking if you can
contract but still contribute to a industry scheme.

I originally chose to be an employee as I had a young family
and wanted a more secure job. With WorkChoices I doubt that
my job security is any greater than that of a contractor.


What I would look out for is recruiting firms. I had one that
placed me once, into a job I wasn't particularly suited to.
They took 15% from the employer for that.  Some time after I
was chatting with them and they said oh, if we'd known you
were a networking person we could have got you a lot more --
ie, they hadn't even read my CV for their 15% and they were
really working for the employer, not for me.
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Adam Kennedy

What I would look out for is recruiting firms. I had one that
placed me once, into a job I wasn't particularly suited to.
They took 15% from the employer for that.  Some time after I
was chatting with them and they said oh, if we'd known you
were a networking person we could have got you a lot more --
ie, they hadn't even read my CV for their 15% and they were
really working for the employer, not for me.


One of the Perl maintainers did an analysis of this situation a few 
years ago.


His conclusion was that their intrinsic interests don't belong with 
either party.


They don't work for the companies, and they don't work for the people 
they find jobs for.


The remuneration structure of the industry means they work only for 
themselves, and the situation is set up for them to abuse both sides and 
use every trick they can to do so.


Adam K
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Rev Simon Rumble
This one time, at band camp, Glen Turner wrote:

 Some governments require that you hold a significant amount
 (from memory, enough insurance for a $20m claim) and this
 was a major expense for someone I know who runs a small
 management consultancy.

I think everyone in NSW has this requirement.

 My experience is that the contractors who do the same work
 as I do are significantly better off than I am. I'm not
 sure if that's because companies expect to pay contractors
 more or if the financial arrangements are superior.

Contractors get paid much better because they don't get paid sick leave, 
holidays etc.  They also have less job security: they can normally be 
sacked with a day's notice.  The flexibility the employer gets is 
something they pay for.  When times are tough, you will have noticed 
that it's the contractors who go first.

That said, I've worked in places where they've had crazy jobs being done 
by contractors.  Things like project managers, which just seems like 
lunacy to me!  Then again, the best project manager I ever worked for 
was a contractor!

 Where they seem to be slightly worse off than me is in the
 superannuation. The industry super schemes seem to be a lot,
 lot better. So it might be worthwhile checking if you can
 contract but still contribute to a industry scheme.

I've noticed that a lot of the industry super schemes seem to be open 
to anyone anyway, so I'm not sure this is such an issue.  You're posting 
from a .edu.au account though, and I believe they have an industry-only 
super fund that is quite good.  Equally, government jobs tend to have 
good schemes.  And if you great super, run for election!

 I originally chose to be an employee as I had a young family
 and wanted a more secure job. With WorkChoices I doubt that
 my job security is any greater than that of a contractor.

You will at least get more notice in a permanent job.  What's more, 
companies do actually care about morale and sacking permies is a good 
way to kill it.  Smart companies know that when this happens, all the 
best people start looking for other jobs and they're left with the ones 
who aren't particularly employable.

 What I would look out for is recruiting firms. I had one that
 placed me once, into a job I wasn't particularly suited to.
 They took 15% from the employer for that.  Some time after I
 was chatting with them and they said oh, if we'd known you
 were a networking person we could have got you a lot more --
 ie, they hadn't even read my CV for their 15% and they were
 really working for the employer, not for me.

Yeah they're know-nothing leeches.  At least some companies in Australia 
advertise direct.  In the UK it's much rarer and you end up having to 
deal through recruit-scum.

Company HR departments are just as bad: they'll have a list of skills 
and if your CV doesn't explicitely say you have it, you don't get to the 
person who's actually looking to hire.  I'm a professional technical 
writer and have been asked to put tools like Word and Visio on my CV.  
My response to this is to ask if I also need to put pen, paper and 
dictionary research on my CV.

Financial industry recruiters are the worst.  Unless you've worked in 
exactly the job they're recruiting, they won't put you forward.  There's 
a (very interesting) stock market job being advertised right now, but 
unless you've worked for a stock market (and my, aren't there a lot of 
those around for you to have worked with) you won't be considered.  At 
least finance jobs pay well, so I guess they can afford to be picky.

I've already had one recruiter here who asked if I had the right to work 
in Australia.  Something answered on, oh, line 3 of my resume.  She had 
my resume already.
http://www.rumble.net/resume/

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.rumble.net

The Tourist Engineer
Just because you're on holiday, doesn't mean you're not a geek.
http://engineer.openguides.org/

 Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly
  so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will
  remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be
  guided by its light.

- Joseph Pulitzer, the man who presided over the
  tabloidisation of newspapers in North America.
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html


Re: [SLUG] Contracting stuff: wrap it into a company or PAYE through agency?

2006-09-21 Thread Christopher Vance

On 9/22/06, Rev Simon Rumble [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

I've noticed that a lot of the industry super schemes seem to be open
to anyone anyway, so I'm not sure this is such an issue.  You're posting
from a .edu.au account though, and I believe they have an industry-only
super fund that is quite good.  Equally, government jobs tend to have
good schemes.  And if you great super, run for election!


I've just started a Pty Ltd for contracting, and will be using
Unisuper. It helps that I was a member years ago when I was working
for universities. I don't know if Unisuper will take somebody off the
street who's not yet a member, though. I'm guessing at least some of
the industry funds will.

--
Christopher
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html