2004 TAX RETURN - REMINDER

30 September 2004 is the deadline for submission of your 2004 tax return if you wish the Inland Revenue to calculate the tax or, if you are an employee, you wish to have a 2003/04 balancing payment of less than £2,000 collected through your 2005/06 PAYE code.

1 October 2004 is the due date for payment of Corporation Tax for the period ended 31 December 2003.

50% DISCOUNT FOR PCG MEMBERS ON KEY IR35 TEXT

The third edition of "Tolley's IR35 Defence Strategies: From Contracts to the Commissioners", written by Dave Smith of Accountax Consulting, has just been published. The book retails at £54.95 but PCG members are entitled to a 50% discount. To order your copy, call (020) 8662 2000, stating the name of the book and furnishing your PCG membership number.

AN IR35 TALE

A member has written to PCG about his IR35 investigation:

"I am pleased to say that after a two and a half year investigation by the IR into my employment status as a result of a two year contract with a local authority I have received confirmation that they are no longer pursuing the investigation. My last submission to them explained that I was 'creating a product' for the client - i.e. a design for a building - which was of course not likely to be the same as someone else's design. This seems to have clarified the situation. Unfortunately I heard of PCG too late - the investigation had started and interviews already done - however, I could have saved myself perhaps two years of stress and anguish had I known of PCG earlier. Keep up the good work."

DOMAIN NAME SCAMS

Two "old favourite" domain name scams have resurfaced recently. As with all scams, the simple solution is to ignore them, but both of these appear convincing, and several people have become their unwilling victims.

Domain Registry Services (DRS), based in Cambridge, sends out "Domain Expiration Notices" implying that the domain is about to expire, and request payment of £60 to extend the registration by two years. DRS has no means of renewing the domain, without the registration being transferred from your existing host or provider, who would in most cases, charge significantly less than £60 for two years. Members should consign such notices to the bin.

Several members have also reported receiving telephone calls advising them that someone else wants to register a derivative of their domain name, but that they can have pre-emption rights to buy it. The prices quoted may be in excess of £100. Usually there is no "someone else" and this is merely a tactic to generate extra sales. Members are advised to decline any such offers from cold-callers.

Members who have any doubt or concerns about their domain names, or wish to consider registering further names, are advised to contact their existing host or provider. Alternatively, a number of PCG members offer domain registration services and advertise them in the Commercial or Members' Commercial forum.

COMMERCIAL FORUM PROJECT POSTINGS

For information about the latest job, project, contract and work opportunities, see PCG's Commercial forum , and Members' Commercial forum. The Commercial forum may be accessed by Affiliate members, and PCG welcomes postings by agencies.

REAL LIFE MEETINGS

Local real life meetings - known on the forums as "RLMs" - encourage members to socialise, network and discuss PCG issues. These meetings are open to all members, and in many cases non-members are welcome to come along too.

The PCG group in Warrington met for the first time last Saturday 25 September with 11 attendees - an excellent turnout for their first meeting. They agreed to meet on the last Saturday of every month at 08:30 in the Room Four Business Venue. For further information about the Warrington Group, please email Andy at [email protected]

Farnborough: Prince of Wales, Farnborough - Tuesday 28 September 2004 19:00

Sheffield RLM launch: Wentworth House Hotel, 26 Milford Street, Sheffield S9 2LD - Thursday 30 September 2004 19:30
Email Mike or Phil on [email protected] or reply to him on the forum
Who to look for: see a photo of Mike.

West Midlands: Rose and Crown J3 M42 - Wednesday 6 October 2004 20:00

Thames Valley: The Vine, Maidenhead - Wednesday 13 October 2004 20:00

Kent / Essex: Bluewater, near Greenhithe, Kent - Monday 18 October 2004 19:30

Various members have also posted in the RLM forum about potential meetings in Taunton, Basel, Norwich, Edinburgh, Shropshire and South Wales. If you would like to attend RLMs in any of these areas, please register your interest by posting to the relevant thread.

OTHER EVENTS

AICS, London: - Thursday 30 September 2004 18:45
Guest speaker Shelagh Gaskill of Masons, a firm of solicitors in
London, who presented an overview of the Data Protection Act 1998 two
years ago, will give an update on recent developments in data
protection and privacy issues, as well as an overview of the Freedom
of Information Act.

Professional Contractors Group Limited
Lakeside House, 1 Furzeground Way
Stockley Park East
Uxbridge
UB11 1BD

Telephone: +44 (0845) 125 9899
Fax: +44 (020) 8622 3200

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