Dave Chaplin's concerns over the effects of IR35 led him to develop
a Web site that works it all out for you
April is going to be an important month for contractors, writes
Roisin Woolnough. It's when the IR35 tax bill is due to kick
in, and contractors across the UK are all anxious to know how it
will affect them.
Dave Chaplin, a contractor who specialises in development on the
Windows platform, set up the Web site IR35Calc.co.uk to help his fellow IT
freelancers work out how the regulation will impact on their
finances. "I got the idea when talking to a colleague about how
my income is going to be affected by IR35, what I could do about
it and what would happen if I went permanent," explains Chaplin.
"Those are the three questions that everyone asks."
Chaplin enlisted the help of his brother, who is an accountant,
and together they worked out the financial implications of IR35 and
devised a system whereby each visitor to the site can calculate
their potential earnings once the regulation takes effect.
"The contractor puts in their hourly or daily rates, their
yearly expenses and how they do their dividend split. Then the site
tells them what their net income roughly is now, what it will be
after IR35 and how to get it up to pre-IR35 levels and the gross
salary if they went permanent."
Chaplin also conferred with a Web developer friend about the
technology and three days later the site was up and running.
It runs on NT Server 4 and was written in Visual Interdev, Front
Page and VB Script. Another service that Chaplin would like to add
in the future, depending on the outcome of IR35, is a section
dedicated to overseas contract jobs.
"It would be good to have an area where people could advertise
for jobs abroad as 30% of contractors are now thinking of going
overseas because of IR35.
"Although I think IR35 is trying to do the right thing - we
should be paying more tax - there will be problems and it will
affect entrepreneurs. Some people will go abroad, most will put
their rates up and some will go into permanent jobs. I think the
Government should just let us be self-employed."
curriculum vitae
Name: Dave Chaplin
Age: 28
Qualifications: Microsoft Certified Solution Developer,
Microsoft Certified Professional and site building
IT skills: SQL Server, Com/DCom, VB, Visual Interdev,
MTS, IIS, XML/XSL Excelon, VB Script, Javascript, OOAD using UML
and Rational Rose
Hobbies: socialising, travelling, reading,
Chaplin on Chaplin: ambitious, outgoing, switched on
E is for excellence
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