Phil Marsh, the founder, has been self-employed for the majority of his working life. With a background in accountancy, he has been providing niche & boutique services to freelance I.T. consultants for over 15 years. Many of those years were also spent managing a portfolio of clients for his accountancy firm.
Prior to IR35, Phil developed one of the first composite solutions with consultants taking special class shares in the company providing each with their own respective dividend plus the salary of their choice. Also in the mix was an offshore employment trust for qualifying pension contributions that created a tax set-off.
The UK umbrella services featured a variety of employed, self-employed and compsite solutions. Apart from these there were also umbrella services for British expatriates working in Europe, particularly France, Spain and Germany. Over the years there was an increasing requirement for contractors in EU so services were provided further afield in Central and Eastern Europe, also Sweden, Finland and Russia.
Having been invited to examine the situation 'down under', Phil went over to Melbourne and set up a company there. Freelance services were provided not only to Melbourne and Sydney clients, but also to Hong Kong and Taiwan. The international setup requires a good knowledge of international tax law and staying abreast of the various new laws attaching to personal services and employers / clients.