The most tax efficient option for higher earners

Please contact Ship Shape’s trained Consultants on 020 7706 5260.

No. National Insurance contributions (NICs) are not taken from your income. You need to organise payment of these separately by setting up a small weekly direct debit with the NI contributions office.

Yes. Simply provide us with details of the company or agency. There are no additional charges when changing to a new company or agency.

No. You are only entitled to holiday pay as an employee or worker. As you are not an employee of the company you will not qualify for sick pay/maternity pay/paternity pay from us.

We pay you cleared funds through the BACS system into your bank account two days after receiving cleared funds pertaining to your work.

Ship Shape does not promote or facilitate Limited Companies, in accordance with the MSC legislation. However, we will subcontract to workers who present themselves for payment having already set-up a Limited Company, who are clearly in business of their own account for the purposes of employment status, who clearly understand and run their own company, have a company bank account, and their own accountant.

As an alternative to direct fulltime employment and a significant pay decrease, you may be able to work genuinely in business on your own account and subcontract to Ship Shape. This allows you to continue working wherever you choose, eliminates the risk of charges by the HMRC and structures your pay to maximise your take home income

Working as self employed compared to full time employment significantly lowers workers taxes and increases their take-home pay. However, under UK law if you work under conditions and terms that resemble those of fulltime employment, the HMRC may declare your position as “deemed employment”. In this case you and your employer or agency may be held liable for significant taxes and penalties.

If you’re self-employed, you are responsible for paying your own tax and National Insurance contributions. You’ll need to keep business records and details of your income so you can fill in an annual Self Assessment tax return. You may also need to register for VAT.

Self-employment checklists are project specific, and there is thus a possibility that the circumstances of a particular project may determine that you, the subcontractor, are unable to work on a self-employed basis. In this case, we are in a position to provide an alternative contracting solution through our Umbrella product. Once this specific project is completed and you move onto the next project, then another self-employment checklist is completed.

This will depend on your personal circumstances and you should contact us to discuss this.

A self assessment tax return is designed to bring together an individual’s taxable income and gains during a tax year (from 6th April one year to 5th April the next) for the purpose of calculating the correct tax liability for that year.

If you are intending to work as self employed you must register as such with the HMRC. Visit their website for more information and registration: hmrc.gov.uk

Yes. You can claim all expenses that you incur whilst going about your work and these can be offset against your tax liability.

The CIS Scheme is the Construction Industry Scheme, which sets out the rules for how payments to subcontractors for construction work must be handled by contractors in the construction industry.

The CIS scheme is maintained by HM Revenue & Customs, and you can access more information on it by visiting their website at: hmrc.gov.uk

Subcontractors must hold a valid net or gross status. If you have this, we will verify your details with HM Revenue & Customs as quickly as possible, so that we can pay you as and when we engage your services.

You must register for CIS Status through HM Revenue & Customs. This can be done online (see Q1 above) or by calling HM Revenue & Customs CIS Helpline on 0845 366 7899 (open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm, seven days a week).