Thinking of contracting or becoming self-employed what you should be aware of

Over the past 20 year’s technology has improved and become cheaper making setting up as a contractor or becoming self-employed so much easier. In the past, if you were contracting or self-employed you would end up using your client’s office and computers, but as laptops have become very affordable and with the advent of Wi-Fi you can work in your home or even your local Starbucks.

Areas such as app development, blogging and journalism, GDPR consulting, graphic design, SEO, and web design can now be done 24/7 anywhere. Of course, the only thing left to decide is whether you setup as a Personal Limited Company, PAYE Umbrella Service or as a Sole Trader and each of these have their own pro’s and con’s. The main benefit of any of the above is that it makes it easy for you to comply with GDPR which comes into law on May 25^th.

GDPR compliance is something that you have to take seriously as you can incur fines of €20M or 4% of your turnover whichever is greater, and when you set yourself up as a contractor or someone who will be self-employed, it has to be one of the first things that you should be thinking of and planning for. This is why you have to make sure that everything that you do is GDPR compliant.

The most popular option, especially for first-time Contractors is to choose a solution called the Umbrella Director Company. Operating through a Limited Company gives you limited liability protection. Typically the Umbrella Company comes with company insurances. Most clients today require these insurances as a layer of protection so this is an immediate saving to you.

Jimmy Sheehan, Commercial Director of Contracting PLUS, Ireland’s leading provider of Umbrella Company structures, had this to say; “Umbrella Companies are an obvious option for first-time contractors but are also used by career contractors. You can step in and out of the company as you need it and it is a pay-as-you-use service. It has almost all the same tax benefits of owning your own Personal Limited Company, but with no administration issues or requirements for the contractor. This lets the Contractor focus on doing their best work for their clients.”

Umbrella companies are GDPR compliant, easy to use and you can be set up in one in a matter of hours. For more information on how Umbrella companies work and how contracting works check out these useful videos.