The tax issue...
When I was contracting, I quickly realised the only "safe" way to do it was as an employee through an umbrella company. This in turn meant I was giving up most of the tax advantages of being a contractor, and taking on a lot of income risk for sickness, holidays, gaps in contract etc.. I'm now back being an employee.
If you want to contract in a "tax efficient way" then you are taking on significant tax risks. With limited companies, you could be deemed on the wrong side of IR35, and there is no effective way to manage these risks - not even insurance. In the end, you need to decide how much risk you are prepared to take for that bit of extra cash today.
For the current batch of contractors who are in the firing line, I recon their best option is to repay back that loan to that offshore company, but I'm glad I ignored the constant approaches by DarwinPay to get involved in such schemes.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
