Self-employed with Ryanair

[tony_the_tiger]

Hello all,

How would I go about setting up being self employed or starting a Ltd company in the UK? With the main income being from flying for Ryanair?

Anyone know some good links to information?

Many thanks,

Tony

[ford cortina]

There is a lot of good advise on HM Customs and Excise website.:ok:

[preduk]

HM Revenue & Customs: Tax returns if you're self-employed or in a partnership (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/self-emp-part.htm)

I would suggest you want to keep away from creating a Ltd company, would end up costing you much more money.

[tony_the_tiger]

Thanks for the response :ok:

[balhambob]

Your Ryanair contract would probably fall under IR35 which means you could not operate through a Ltd Company

[quant]

I would suggest you want to keep away from creating a Ltd company, would end up costing you much more money.True! the IR35 lesgislation can be quite trickey and if your not careful you could fall foul of the IR. However not all is lost if you want to go down this route as their are a number of companies that will do it all for you and you can claim expenses (deducted from your national insurance) as well as a number of other benefits. I used this service when i was a contractor:

Parasol (http://www.parasolgroup.co.uk/)

Basically parasol will invoice the company that payes you, the money will be transferred to parasol and they will deduct tax and process your expenses and pay you. If you are able to go down this route it will be cheaper than setting up your own IR35 company, cheaper than doing your own tax returns (as you can claim expenses) and will save yourself allot of money, time and you know all your tax is being payed correctly.

Good luck ;)

[leeds 65]

I would say go self assessment,ie file your own tax return at the end of the year or get an accountant to do it and pay him a one off fee or certainly smaller fees then if you had a company.you can get hms or irish revenue to send you the required forms.Then Fill them in before the specified deadline.

I thought about this setting up a company lark and to be honest its way way over priced.hundreds per month.Also accountants charge huge fees plus vat if you set up a company under them.

[adverse-bump]

...or

you could just get a job at as a real pilot.

[veeOne99]

adverse-bump - if you have something useful to say then say it otherwise why bother posting.

With regards Parasol, I've also used them before when I was contracting and they are very good. A little bit pricey now as monthly charge around 90 per month.

Self employed with an accountant doing your tax returns and books should cost you around £500 per year

[adverse-bump]

FROM THE TIMES

Reasons not to fly with ryanair

1. 1p flights are never 1p

Even if you strike it lucky and find a 1p flight you actually want to take, Ryanair charge you for the pleasure of paying for it. To the tune of £4.75. For each passenger. Each way.

And that doesn’t even include…

2. The check-in charge

If you want to book a bag into the aircraft hold you must check in at the airport, which will cost you £4.75 per passenger, per way, if you book online and a whopping £10 per passenger, per way if you pay at the airport or over the phone. And it doesn’t matter if only one person in your party takes a bag, everyone else still has to pay to check in at the airport too.

This week Ryanair announced that it’s all change from May when airport check in will rocket to £20 per person, per way. That is a grand total of £160 for a return flight as a family of four.

All without factoring in…

3. The baggage charge

Which is an extortionate £9.50 per bag, per flight. Or £19 if you book at the airport or over the phone.

4. The sneaky weight limit

Ryanair set its weight limit for hold luggage at 15kg catching the majority of passengers off guard.

You’re not allowed to pool bags either so, even if you have a party of four sharing luggage, if the bag weighs 16kg you will be charged £14 per additional kilo. Nevermind that it makes not a jot of difference to the weight of the aeroplane.

5. Queues glorious queues

If you’re still talking to your partner following the inevitable blazing row about why you shouldn’t just pay the bloody charges listed above, you won’t be after being told to join the back of the enormous queue at the ‘payments’ desk.

6. The additional baggage charge

Probably best to wear all of your clothes at once on the flight if you are travelling somewhere for more than a couple of days (until Ryanair start charging passengers for excess body weight that is). Check more than one bag in and it will cost you another £19 per extra piece of luggage, per way.

7. The website is rubbish. On purpose.

You have no choice but to book a Ryanair flight through its website so the airline may as well make it as stressful an experience as possible. The website is ugly for starters, and it crashes. All the time.

Because you can’t easily browse for dates when cheap flights are available you have to dedicate at least five precious hours of your life to sitting in front of the screen and laboriously trying different combinations to find a good deal.

And if you don’t understand what the hell you’ve just pressed there is no one to e-mail. Because Ryanair want you to spend more money and phone its…

8. Premium rate internet helpline

Calls cost £1 a minute to speak to someone in a call centre. Be amazed if you can explain what your problem is for under a fiver.

9. You can only fly cheap mid week

To get the bargains that make the pain of Ryanair worth the gain you have to be prepared to fly on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, which can rule out the bargain European weekend break. Kind of why you wanted to book with Ryanair in the first place.

10. You have to travel at obscene hours.

Not only are you travelling on a Tuesday you also have to be prepared to wake up at 2am to get to the airport two hours ahead of your 6.55am flight. Or, if you choose a more civilised evening departure time, arrive in your destination at midnight with no where to stay because…

11. The destination airports are in the middle of nowhere.

Don’t expect to fly to Frankfurt if you book a flight to Frankfurt, to name one of many examples. Frankfurt Hahn airport where Ryanair land is 120 km from the city centre.

12. A bottle of water on board costs £3

I know the moral of this story is to buy a drink from WH Smith before you board, but it’s still annoying.

13. Sweaty, plasticky seats

Whatever you do, don’t wear shorts or you might be stuck to your seat forever and forced to listen to…

14. The in-flight musak

Pray that your flight is not delayed before it takes off or you’ll have to put up with the bleepy, computer-game inspired musak that is played on loop as your board, over, and over.

15. The fanfare

Do we really need the shrill fanfare that sounds when/if the flight lands on time? Or does it just ruin the first three minutes of each passenger's holiday?

16. You can’t book a seat

As if the British holiday ritual of crowding round the baggage carousel isn’t enough to warrant the use of blood-thinning medication, Ryanair invite you to partake in the extreme sport that is racing across the tarmac to get a seat next to your companion. Flip flops are a distinct disadvantage.

17. No refunds, ever

Unless you have a spare few days to waste do not even bother trying.

18. Poor compensation

A report by the UK’s Air Transport Users Council has found that the world’s airlines lost more than one million bags in 2007 and more than 42 million pieces of luggage were mishandled worldwide.

Guess who it named as the worst airline for compensation if your bag goes missing or is damaged?

19. You are always being flogged stuff

No we don't want your ridiculously overpriced travel insurance, car hire or Ryanair tea-towels. Go away.

20. Michael O’Leary himself

Don't tell me you can bear to make him any more smug?

ILL ADD MY OWN

21. The FO's couldnt get jobs at real airlines.

lets carry this on!

22...............

[tony_the_tiger]

Thanks: veeOne99, leeds 65, quant, balhambob :ok:

adverse-bump - "you could just get a job at as a real pilot" :ugh:

Unfortunately Ryanair are as I see it my best option, so until I get the chance to work with a "real pilot" like you I'm stuck.... oh, no wait, having read your history of abusive posts towards newbies I would rather roger myself with a cactus :eek:


Can we get back on topic?

[veeOne99]

Most of the guys I know went down the self employed route. Less administration and basically just pay your tax at the end of the year.

Currently, I just pay my money into a UK account as the euro conversion rate is so could at the moment.

Can anyone recommend a decent euro bank account that doesn't charge a monthly fee and provides a cash card should I need access to my money

[Seat1APlease]

Abbey International in Jersey do a gold euro account that comes with a card which can be used either as a visa card or a cash card. Usually there are no charges although that depends to a certain extent on the foreign bank ATM where you use it.



I am a bit surprised that Ryanair pay enough to make it worthwhile to come up with tax avoidance schemes offshore. I thought the IR had closed down most of these schemes where you are self employed but with only one employer.

I know a couple of non-pilots who have moved and gone down this route, but they both say it isn't worth the hassle and costs unless you're over £150k per year.

[veeOne99]

Thanks for your reply.

It's not for tax avoidance at all. I just want to be in a position where I can hold money in a Euro account and transfer large sums to my UK account in one go as my bank charges when they convert Euro to Sterling each month at the minute.

[tony_the_tiger]

try BBVA, I have a EUR and GBP account with them... and a rather large loan:}

[D O Guerrero]

Tony, I set up my own business for the duration of my time with Ryanair. It's actually very easy, hardly costs anything at all and if you get a good accountant (PM me if you'd like me to give you the details for mine -he works for several Ryanair FOs) its quite a tax efficient way of getting everything sorted.
I'm also VAT registered which has some significant advantages.

[Pilot Chris]

If you want to set up a ltd company as a contractor and be checked for IR35 compliancy then try www.brookson.co.uk (http://www.brookson.co.uk)

Will cost more or less same as an accountant but will cover the IR35 side and you can end up taking home up to 82% of earnings approx.

[adverse-bump]

Another happy ryanair pilot! I bet he is glad he paid all that money!

http://www.pprune.org/terms-endearment/367656-do-not-get-sick-ryanair.html#post4820197

[leeds 65]

adverse - bump = very clever man , i wish i was that clever

What is your arguement here.You say FR FO's arent 'real pilots' , well excuse me for being in the dark here but what the f is a 'real pilot' ?Are 747 pilots 'real' and cessna caravan pilots 'fake'?Are airbus pilots 'real' and boeing pilots 'fake'?

You smack me as being extremely snobby and talking out of your ass.What 'real' airline do you work for ?

[adverse-bump]

Sorry, it should have said real commercial pilot.

In that you get paid for flying and not the other way around

[Callsign Kilo]

I fly for Ryanair. I get paid for all my flying. Has something changed here? Did I miss a memo?

[tony_the_tiger]

don't rise to his bait.....

Anyway i'm thinking ltd company is the way to go, a bit more personal admin to take care of but take home ~80% of gross rather than 70%

[shaun ryder]

Callsignkilo, I think what he means is, you all enjoy getting royally shafted, whilst flying hordes of the great unwashed around Europe.

[zerotohero]

Ryanair, The airbourne council estate!

[adverse-bump]

Callsignkilo, I think what he means is, you all enjoy getting royally shafted, whilst flying hordes of the great unwashed around Europe.

Finally!

someone with some sense!

[leeds 65]

Well there is no getting away from that alright ! The vast majority are scaldy pikeys,all i can say is im glad i can hide in the cockpit and well done cabin crew , i know i wouldnt have the patience.

Back on topic - to be honest i found setting up a business to be an attractive method until the various accountant fees and vat charges became clear.I just thought that the fees were not justified given my salary and given the service provided,ie info about what you can claim for.Self assessment is more economical for me,maybe a captain would find more benefit from setting up a ltd

[Tolan]

I don't think Ryanair pilots enjoy getting shafted. I think at the moment, most of them are just happy to have a job. Most would probably move if they could, but alas, tough times.

[victorc10]

Adverse-lump,

You are quite amusing with your tirade of hate for people who do a very similar Job as yourself, I suspect you were probably turned down by Ryanair at some point, and now you are flying your Q300 or similar? Earning your 1500 net. Just think, if you had spent that 30K on a TR, you might have been earning 4000 net. Hmmm thats one year of saving if you live under the same conditions as you currently do. The next X years it takes for you to get into a 320, 737 or similar will see you somewhat short of the other guy who did a more complete assessment of the situation and has not only paid off his/her loan, but has cleared the mortgage and is now working from the RHS of a 744 for the likes of Cathay, or a 777 or Bus for Emirates...

If you are a nice person you will stop writing the silly childish nonsense and stick to the more helpful and insightful information you know that you are capable of.

Cheers

[Seaton81]

if you go VAT Ltd, you can pay yourself minimum wage @ 5.80 per hr or whatever it is, whilst paying your self out a (pre-tax) dividend accounted for in the PL statement.

Just a tought.;)

[g1344304]

Just curious, you need two sources of income with a ltd company right? Just wondering what some of you guys have as a second source of income?

[nick14]

g1344304,

Thats why the IR35 legislation applies because effectively if Brookfield were not involved you would be a Ryanair employee.

Alternatively you could give ground instruction for the PPL or set up a mail order shop.

Nick