How do you get paid as a contractor?
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So, how do you get paid?
Timesheets!
For each week that you work as a contractor, you need to submit a timesheet of the hours or days you have worked, which then needs to be approved by the client.
However, as always, the granular details depend on the type of contract you have.
You have to remember, you’re never directly employed by the client. For Inside roles, typically the recruitment agency that got you the contract usually becomes your employer, or a third-party payroll company that they work with.
You then use their software to submit timesheets which someone, usually your manager, also has access to. They then approve your timesheet which lets the recruitment agency know they should pay you.
The client pays the recruitment agency, and the recruitment agency pays you.
This is generally true for both Inside and Outside IR35 contracts. However, with Outside roles, since you run a limited company, nothing is stopping you from working directly with a client.
If you find the contract yourself, you don’t need another company in between. In this case, you wouldn’t need to fill out timesheets, you would be paid based on whatever mutual agreement you and the client had come to, and the contract you drafted up.
I go into some more detail on getting paid, including how holidays work, and a diagram to help simplify things in the paid version of this newsletter. Hope to see you there!