Advice on setting up own company for IT contracting

cruhoortwunk

I'm about to setup my own limited company for invoicing as an It contractor. Nothing fancy, just the handiest, standard way of setting up your own company for contracting.

Which of these is the standard setup:
Private company limited by shares
Company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital
Company limited by guarantee and having a share capital
Unlimited company
Public limited company

cassette50

Private company limited by shares.

pedroeibar1

Clearly you have not taken professional advice (judging by the Qs). Do you really need to form a co?
Private company limited by shares would be the way to go, but there are annual costs involved. I'd discuss the plans with an accountant, it won't cost you much and would save you that amount (or more) in the long run

cruhoortwunk

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Clearly you have not taken professional advice (judging by the Qs). Do you really need to form a co?
Private company limited by shares would be the way to go, but there are annual costs involved. I'd discuss the plans with an accountant, it won't cost you much and would save you that amount (or more) in the long run

Yes, I do need to form a company, as I don't like the sound of the umbrella company.
I'm not looking for professional advice for the start, all it is a few forms to submit. I have a friends, memorandum and articles of association, so I will just change a few lines to my business name etc.
I will look at getting an accountant soon, but trying to do without paid services for the initial setup.

jcon1913

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

Yes, I do need to form a company, as I don't like the sound of the umbrella company.
I'm not looking for professional advice for the start, all it is a few forms to submit. I have a friends, memorandum and articles of association, so I will just change a few lines to my business name etc.
I will look at getting an accountant soon, but trying to do without paid services for the initial setup.

You can probably get a limited company set up by someone who does this for a living for €200-300. It will probably cost €100-200 if you do it yourself. Youll save €100 for a day of running around town. Also if you make a mess of it..... Then you have to pay to fix it up and waste more time.

cruhoortwunk

jcon1913 wrote: »

You can probably get a limited company set up by someone who does this for a living for €200-300. It will probably cost €100-200 if you do it yourself. Youll save €100 for a day of running around town. Also if you make a mess of it..... Then you have to pay to fix it up and waste more time.

I did it myself for a grand total of €100. So a saving of about €220 is well worth it in my book. I don't see the attraction of these companies that do it for you, it's just laziness as far as I'm concerned.
I reserved the business name with CORE for €25 https://core.cro.ie/Main/index.jsp
Then got a copy of a memo and articles of association. Changed one paragraph and the directors details obviously.
Then filled in the fillable A1 form and printed it https://www.cro.ie/Portals/0/Company%20Forms%20-%20Popular/A1%20v2.3%20fillable.pdf
Note current NACE codes are here, I saw an older list floating around online. http://www.cso.ie/px/u/NACECoder/NACEItems/searchnace.asp
Went to a Peace Commisioner who witnessed it for free. (no need to be paying solicitors for this)
Then I dropped the forms down to the CRO on Parnell Square and paid the €75 fee (€100 minus the €25 for reserving the name)

Lots more people did it easily themselves:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057041163

Gard1

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Clearly you have not taken professional advice (judging by the Qs). Do you really need to form a co?
Private company limited by shares would be the way to go, but there are annual costs involved. I'd discuss the plans with an accountant, it won't cost you much and would save you that amount (or more) in the long run

I think what pedroeibar was trying to say was that you should have considered trading as a sole trader to start off. This costs €0 to register with revenue.
If you decide to close down the company at some stage there will be additional costs as you need to take an add out in national newspaper and more forms to be filled out. You also need to take into account revenues opinion on IT contractors and whether you are working for 1 company or are freelance seeking many different customers. If you are working for 1 company, revenue can class that as being a direct employee of the business and tax you accordingly. A lot of contractors have been caught out after and been penalised

barneystinson

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

I did it myself for a grand total of €100. So a saving of about €220 is well worth it in my book. I don't see the attraction of these companies that do it for you, it's just laziness as far as I'm concerned.
I reserved the business name with CORE for €25 https://core.cro.ie/Main/index.jsp
Then got a copy of a memo and articles of association. Changed one paragraph and the directors details obviously.
Then filled in the fillable A1 form and printed it https://www.cro.ie/Portals/0/Company%20Forms%20-%20Popular/A1%20v2.3%20fillable.pdf
Note current NACE codes are here, I saw an older list floating around online. http://www.cso.ie/px/u/NACECoder/NACEItems/searchnace.asp
Went to a Peace Commisioner who witnessed it for free. (no need to be paying solicitors for this)
Then I dropped the forms down to the CRO on Parnell Square and paid the €75 fee (€100 minus the €25 for reserving the name)

Lots more people did it easily themselves:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057041163

Total amount of time all of the above took you, including reading up what you needed to do?

It's all about what the opportunity cost of your own time is, and the peace of mind of knowing its been done correctly (or if not you have someone to sue) when you pay for a professional service.

cruhoortwunk

barneystinson wrote: »

Total amount of time all of the above took you, including reading up what you needed to do?

It's all about what the opportunity cost of your own time is, and the peace of mind of knowing its been done correctly (or if not you have someone to sue) when you pay for a professional service.

Didn't have that much reading to do, as a friend went through the process not long ago. If I went with a company, I'm sure I would still have to fill out al the same info and pass to them instead.
Point taken, but I just think it's overkill getting someone to do it. Also it's good to get an understanding of what is needed to set it up.

barneystinson

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

Didn't have that much reading to do, as a friend went through the process not long ago. If I went with a company, I'm sure I would still have to fill out al the same info and pass to them instead.
Point taken, but I just think it's overkill getting someone to do it. Also it's good to get an understanding of what is needed to set it up.

Different strokes for different folks, some people are allergic to dealing with administration and red tape, and hence the demand for such services.

TGBlinds Awnings Shutters

Have you a local Development Office? They can be really helpful in regard to your query

jcon1913

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

I did it myself for a grand total of €100. So a saving of about €220 is well worth it in my book. I don't see the attraction of these companies that do it for you, it's just laziness as far as I'm concerned.
I reserved the business name with CORE for €25 https://core.cro.ie/Main/index.jsp
Then got a copy of a memo and articles of association. Changed one paragraph and the directors details obviously.
Then filled in the fillable A1 form and printed it https://www.cro.ie/Portals/0/Company%20Forms%20-%20Popular/A1%20v2.3%20fillable.pdf
Note current NACE codes are here, I saw an older list floating around online. http://www.cso.ie/px/u/NACECoder/NACEItems/searchnace.asp
Went to a Peace Commisioner who witnessed it for free. (no need to be paying solicitors for this)
Then I dropped the forms down to the CRO on Parnell Square and paid the €75 fee (€100 minus the €25 for reserving the name)

Lots more people did it easily themselves:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057041163

Fair play job done. All Im saying is that there are people set up to do this sort of thing to take the pain & hassle out of it for you...