Day: September 28, 2018

If you are contemplating working through an umbrella company, you will likely spend a large amount of time comparing your options. In doing so, you will almost certainly see advertisements from umbrella companies that claim to offer “90% plus take home pay”.

As a contractor seeking to maximise their earnings, 90% take home pay sounds like a dream come true – but unfortunately, these claims can quickly turn into a nightmare.

90% take home pay is never feasible

The idea of being able to keep 90% of what you earn may be tempting, but it can only be achieved under a very specific set of circumstances. Let’s crunch the numbers:

• The rate of tax is the rate that anyone earning above the tax-free personal allowance must pay by law.
• Everyone receives a tax-free personal allowance of £11,850.
• Anything earned after this amount is taxable. This means that anyone in full-time employment must pay tax, as a full 40-hour week at the national minimum wage exceeds the tax-free allowance threshold. If you work full time, you must pay tax.
• If you earn between £11,851 and £46,350, you will pay 20% of your taxable income in tax.
• If you earn between £46,351 and £150,000, you will pay 40% in tax.
• If you earn over £150,000, you will pay 45%.

Given the above, we can conclude that unless you are earning less than your personal allowance of £11,850, you must pay tax at a rate of 20%.

So how can you legally achieve a take home pay of 90% – which is just a 10% tax rate – with an umbrella company? You can’t. It’s illegal.

So why do companies advertise 90% take home pay?

There are two reasons an umbrella company may advertise a 90% take home pay, and neither are positive:

• They are advertising this rate with a caveat – i.e. you can achieve this rate if you earn less than your personal allowance. This isn’t technically a lie as it can be true, but if you work full-time, you will definitely earn over your personal allowance – so really, it’s just marketing spin that applies to only a tiny percentage of contractors.
• More worryingly, a 90% take home pay could indicate that the umbrella company are involved in a tax avoidance scheme. If this is the case, working through such a company could have catastrophic consequences for you in the future.

HMRC and tax avoidance

Tax avoidance schemes are always illegal.

If HMRC find that you owe money in unpaid taxes, they will issue a demand for payment. You can try to argue that you did not avoid tax – your umbrella company did – but HMRC have the power to demand you ‘pay now, dispute later’. Due to this, you would still need to pay the back-taxes even if it is the umbrella company who were at fault. You could then dispute this with HMRC and claim a refund, but only after you have settled the debt in full – and even then, there’s no guarantee that the appeal would be successful.

So what should you do instead?

• Ignore companies that claim to offer you 90% take home pay, as this cannot be legal. This point cannot be overstated enough; there is no such thing as a legal or permitted tax avoidance scheme – no matter what companies claim on their website!
• Look for an umbrella company that pays you via the PAYE system
• Check all monies received to ensure that you are paying the right rate of tax for your income.

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Any pet owner that ends up losing a beloved animal is going to feel like they lost a family member. Pets of all kinds quickly become an additional member of the family, whether they are dogs, cats, rabbits, or even birds. If your beloved animal has recently passed away, you may want to know more about animal funerals and what they are about. The good thing to remember is that you can absolutely plan out a funeral for your pet as a way of remembering the animal and saying your final goodbye. Perhaps with the family that the pet made such a significant difference too, whilst also creating a positive impact on all of the family’s lives.

What Are These Funerals Like?

The pet funerals are a lot like the funerals that take place for humans. There are different funeral homes that provide this service for pet owners because they may want to say goodbye while having a special ceremony for an animal that was in their lives for so many years. It is true that some animals live with families for 10-20 years at a time, growing with each family member over the years.

Planning the Ideal Service For the Pet You Love

The staff members of these funeral homes have such a deep understanding of how painful it can be to lose a pet. It is just as painful as losing a brother, sister, cousin, or friend, and you deserve to grieve in a way that is best for you and your loved ones. The first thing you should do is decide where you would like to have the funeral service. Although you can have the service take place inside of the funeral home, you may prefer having it outdoors in an area that your pet was truly fond of, such as your own back garden.

If you are religious, you can have prayers read by someone during the service. Each member of the family may want to write a message on how much the animal meant to them while saying their final goodbyes. You could make sure each person gets the opportunity to recite their message during the service as it is going to help with the grieving process. Most people find comfort in talking about some of the different memories they have formed over the years of all the funny, lovable, and truly remarkable things their pets have done.

After focusing on planning the service and deciding where to have it and what to say and do throughout the service, you will need to think about if you would like to bury your pet or if you would like to have the pet / animal cremated. Although it is entirely up to you to make such an important decision, many people like to choose cremation for their pets because then they can place the ashes in special cremation jewellery and wear that jewellery each day as a constant reminder of an animal they loved so much.

There is nothing incorrect with choosing to have a funeral for your pet. If the animal in your life meant so much to you and your family, you can plan out the perfect funeral service as a way to say your final goodbyes.

We hope that this article helped, and if you want any more information on pet cremations, please see -