A
AMtek
So it seems to me that this country and its government are just out to screw over the small business owner not only when it comes to taxes but on our time. If I need someone to do a days sub contract work I have to phone the inland revenue to find out if he/ she is CIS registered, you sit with the phone at your ear while you wait for someone to answer your call, you finally get through to someone and they confirm that they are indeed CIS registered and looking at their details you can pay them gross and don't have to deduct anything from their wages or no they are not CIS registered so then the subcontractor has to phone the inland revenue themselves to get CIS registered and then you have to phone the inland revenue again yourself to find out how to pay the subcontractor. So now you are clear to get them to do the work you need them to do but not before they have signed a declaration that says that they class themselves as self employed and that they work for other people besides you so the inland revenue cant try and claim that they are employed by you then you have to go through a risk assessment with them, made sure they know where the fire exits are and told them where the emergency meeting point is then you need to make sure they know how to use the tools and ask them to demonstrate safe operating procedure, you need to make sure they are wearing all the PPE they are expected to wear and you get the forms signed to say that you have been through all of this with them. So now they start working and they have forgotten a piece of equipment they need so you lend them said piece of equipment for the day but because you are busy on the phone to the inland revenue trying to sort out another matter you forget to get them to sign the piece of paper that says that you have shown them safe operating procedure of said piece of equipment and as luck would have it they injure themselves using it so now you have a compensation claim and still no work done! And got forbid you try and advertise in the jobcentre for a new member of staff, you have to put all of your details into internet pages (standard government questions: height, weight, shoe size, blood group, sexual preference etc.) at the end of all of these pages you can then advertise the job you need to fill so you start filling in the job description and state that the candidate must be over 21 for insurance purposes but oh no you cant type anything as controversial as that because it is age discrimination (ignoring the fact that it is perfectly legitimate as your insurance provider will not insure anyone under 21 years of age) so you delete this section fill in the rest and post the job for potential candidates, half of which are under 21 and so you have to tell them that unfortunately you cannot give them a job because they are under 21 years of age and your insurance provider will not insure them. So now said potential employee takes you to court because of the way you discriminated against them because of their age. Unfortunately I do not have much time to do much of the work that I love doing anymore because I am locked in an office with a phone glued to my ear, surrounded by stacks of paperwork and staring into a computer monitor. The government is currently having a crack down on people working for cash in hand and complain that it is costing the country billions of pounds every year in lost taxes when in reality most tradesmen and companies in general would gladly do everything by the book if only things weren't so difficult and convoluted. Sorry for the long post, rant over!
