Nowadays 55% is about the maximum you can trawl out of these contracts, the old creative accountancy schemes won't wash anymore. My colleague has been asked for a "full disclosure" the revenue want to see bank statements, credit card statements, travel bookings, phone bills the whole lot. The 40k saved over the past 4 years will get quickly swallowed up by the penalty fines and tax accountant at 180/ hr. Forget trying to get the rating cost back, that's pie in the sky. If your location has a DTA agreement with the Uk revenue then the problem gets even worse. At NAS they fez up and pay the correct deductions, sleep at night and can retain their asset base, of course, the downside of contract work is the attitude of the banks if you want a mortgage without a "permanent" contract as our colleagues have found in Spain. If you have a UK property to rent out while working abroad this is also on the radar now, on the other hand "inspection visits" are tax allowable, but "improvements" such as 52 plasma TV are not!