For IT Recruitment and contract solutions in Ireland -Vantage Resources

For IT Recruitment and contract solutions in Ireland -Vantage Resources: "

Source: O'Toole & Co
Business Advisors & Accountants
Contractors, Consultants & Small Business Specialists.
Phone 01 8013116


Guide to Contracting


Contracting is now common in nearly all business sectors and provides many benefits to the parties involved. The contracting Company gets access to specialist skills on an as needed basis while the Contractor generally gets greater financial reward and independence than the traditional employee structure.

There are three main ways of operating as a contractor namely Fixed Term Contract with an Agency, Umbrella Company & Own Limited Company. Its worth noting that there has been a lot of developments in this area in the UK with the implementation of IR 35 & MSC legislation. We would therefore recommend that you seek professional advice before deciding your preferred structure.


Fixed Term Workers
A fixed term employee is someone who is employed under a contract which contains a specific start and end date or who is employed to carry out a specific task or project or the continuity of whose contract is contingent on a particular event such as the availability of continued funding from an external source.
Under this scenario the individual concerned normally has a Fixed Term Contract with the agency who in turn has a contract with the client.

This type of employee will generally be taxed through the PAYE system with the related administration carried out by the contracting company. Both Employee & Employer PRSI will be paid as per fulltime employee although in general there are not the same fringe benefits as an individual in a permanent role.
For this reason fixed term contracts normally pay a higher rate than permanent roles.

Umbrella Company
This is where you ' the contractor' essentially becomes an employee of the umbrella company run by a third party. You submit time-sheets to the umbrella who will in turn, invoice the end client (or agency) for the work done by you. You will then be paid as a PAYE employee less the umbrella fee.

The full article and further details can be viewed at:
http://www.vantage.ie/candidates/14/guide_to_contracting_.html "