Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

Yeah I suppose so, I never really thought of it that way, a lot of people in the US service industry for example are permanent employees but are recruited on permanent 'zero hours' contracts with no holiday pay, medical benefits or employee protection. A girl I used to date in Michigan would work her arse off during the summer season so that she could then survive the winter, despite technically being a 'permanent employee'.

I that we Europeans are just used to the way things are on this side of the water I think in that once you're hired on a permanent contract, the company is almost always bound to adhere to your working rights. I have also been looking at jobs in Japan recently and am pretty shocked that they only get 10 days of annual leave plus public holidays off as standard.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

I've lost track of tax rates in the UK. A well organized contractor in Canada who has an earn and spend lifestyle and is prepared to use questionable deductions winds up losing about 20% of his gross income to various taxes. It'll be less in some years due to deferrals but long term it's hard to keep loses to the government below 20%. Lifestyle is key though, someone who likes to stay at home of an evening and doesn't have a car may as well just hand over his pay cheque to the chancellor.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

Why is that, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm in permanent IT employment in the UK now for the first time in 2 years but to be honest I think I preferred contracting. You earn a lot more and they expect far less dedication in return.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

Employment law in Canada is very lax compared to Europe but there is some legislation dealing with conditions of employment and it's difficult to subvert these in the case of permanent employees. Much more so than in the US. It can even be difficult in the case of "temporary" workers. For example, I know of a local government that has recently reclassified the staff from permanent to temporary, this allowed the employer to dispense with the healthcare package they used to offer but they still cannot avoid having to pay 4% on top of the hourly rate for "holiday pay"; payment for time not actually worked.

In order to have a simple "n dollars for n hours actually worked" relationship with no implied obligations as regards taxes, liability for errors, holidays or sickness, the payer is well advised to deal only with incorporated entities. This has the added advantage that there's no faffing with laws governing discrimination where there's no actual employment. You'll find contractors are used to this and typically have one or more numbered companies.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

Tax deductions fall into categories such as "advertising and entertainment" and "automotive". Someone who doesn't go out and doesn't drive doesn't have any legitimate deductions, nevermind any grey area ones.

The latter point isn't true here. The contractors are there to do the work, employees are there for a variety of reasons and are less focused. Typically a manager will have a coterie of contractors he or she trusts and may even move them from firm to firm. I think there are two forces at work:

- contractors are commited, they work for money, employees have "quality of life" and that gets in the way of the job

- any employee is a rival for a manager's job, contractors are loyal to the manager not the firm.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

It all sounds a lot more complicated than I used to I think. I have always just used Umbrella companies in the UK, paid them around £20 a week and let them do the paperwork. I'm not a financially motivated person and I don't like dealing with anything regarding tax or accounts, I'd would rather just let them take care of that and leave me to deal with what I'm hired to do.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

So you mean like entertaining clients and such forth? Also the automotive one seems a little unfair. In the UK you're entitled to claim for travel expenses to and from site, no matter what method of transportation is used.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

You can get the same thing here. Only it's 20% not £20.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

I expect you could claim a bus pass in Toronto but, really, that would represent a sad failure of imagination on your accountant's part.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

You pay the umbrella company 20%?

That's outrageous, I know when you're hired via an agent over here, the agency will make money for every hour/day that you work but that is done outside of the rate which they quote to you so it's not really 'your money' so to speak.

I really wouldn't want to pay someone 20% just for providing accountancy services though. :(

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

Just supplement the words 'bus pass' with 'daily private helicopter' and job done. :)

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

There's no concept of umbrella companies. There are only pimps in the manner of "Kelly Girl" (if that one's still around). 20% where the agent finds the work and factors the receivables would be very generous to the contractor; it's not uncommon for the worker to get less than half the billing rate. And the agent doesn't provide any accounting or other services. Bear in mind though that, if it's a government contract, the agent is often going to have to carry the receivable for a year, sometimes two, not many individuals can support that sort of cash flow issue.

In the case that someone approaches me for the use of one of my supplier numbers and can live with getting paid when I get paid, ie I don't do anything at all, I usually propose 15% and settle for 10 or better.

Re: IT Agencies in Toronto
 

This is all going way over my head if I'm honest, I think I will probably have a lot of reading up to do if/when I go over there, although admittedly when I did my first IT contracting role at the age of 26, it initially scared the hell out of me but I managed to get my head around everything fairly quickly.