Released on: February 22, 2008, 2:27 am

Press Release Author: PHPR Ltd.

Industry: Human Resources

Press Release Summary: PeoplePerHour.com offer a simple (and totally legal)
work-around the IR35 trap for self employed people.

Press Release Body: Edinburgh, UK - February 22, 2008
It is coming up to the end of another tax year and crunch time for several thousands
of self -employed people who may find themselves caught by a strange tax twist:
IR35. Originally designed to prevent companies from offloading their full PAYE and
NIC responsibilities, self employed people need to be careful how they manage the
working relationship or HMRC may decide they are actually a 'disguised employee',
regardless of the contractual arrangement.
PeoplePerHour.com offer a simple (and totally legal) work-around the IR35 trap for
self employed people.
You are much less likely to be caught in the IR 35 trap if you work for several
clients at a distance, so you can prove your independent contractor status. That is
now much easier thanks to the arrival of the online skills marketplace run by
PeoplePerHour.com.
The site allows you to quickly bid to complete short contracts: some as little as a
few hours work. It takes up very little 'sales' time to increase your client
numbers. Just register and post your information (free of charge), then bid for
work. This is a big plus as many of the service providers now on PeoplePerHour.com
say that prior to going onto the site, getting new clients was one of the hardest
parts of going into business.
Businesses like www.herestheproof.co.uk run by Gaynor Ridgeway use PeoplePerHour.com
to offer their covert customer, proof reading and speech-writing services. When
asked what's the biggest business challenge, she says, "Establishing a new business
client base. This is the most difficult thing of all."
"I intend to keep using PeoplePerHour. It's way ahead of its nearest competitor, and
totally user-friendly."
Most of the work offered through the site is ideal for meeting the independent
contractor test. You are obviously using your own equipment to do the work from home
and you are emphatically setting your own rates through the bidding system.
Because PeoplePerHour.com has a unique escrow system, payment is surprisingly fast
for completed projects: in days rather than weeks. That makes it exceedingly handy
all the year round to plug foreseeable cash-flow blips and save on the swingeing
business banking charges that pile up the instant you are a penny overdrawn.
And if you dip into PeoplePerHour.com throughout the year to top up your funds, by
this time next year, you'll have lots of manifestly independent clients to chase
away the spectre of IP35 from your business. You could even clock up a couple of
projects this tax year if you're quick.
http://www.peopleperhour.com
ENDS (background information follows)
For further info, contact: Penny Haywood at PHPR on 0131 669 5190 (day or evening)
or email penny@phpr.co.uk.
For further comment, interviews, or photos please contact Penny Haywood at PHPR on
0131 669 5190 (day or evening) or email penny@phpr.co.uk.

PeoplePerHouse.com Background Information
 PeoplePerHour are already the UK leaders for the online skills market. To
date over 1,200 projects posted by UK businesses on PeoplePerHour.com have been
successfully completed by a selection of 3,700+ registered providers from the UK
(49%), and (in decreasing order) from US, India, Argentina and Spain, enabling UK
small businesses to tap into a global labour market.
 Founded in 2007 by two Cambridge graduates: Xenios Thrasyvoulou and Simos
Kitiris, PeoplePerHour.com are targeting an estimated £5 billion opportunity. That's
based on the Federation of Small Business (FSB) figures for 2006 showing the total
annual spend on part-time, agency workers and casual labour in the UK across all
businesses was £70 billion a year. 4.4 million small businesses in the UK are
currently growing by 10% annually and account for 35% of the UK workforce, but only
44% of the small business workforce is in full-time employment.
 Buyers choose from an average of five bids per project posted and in many
cases can access CV, photo, description, sample work and referee contact details.
 PeoplePerHour.com ensures providers get paid on completion through a
combination of their unique escrow facility plus PayPal.
 The company has already attracted £350,000 of seed investment from
prominent angel investors and is in discussions with a number of VCs.
 PeoplePerHour practises what it preaches. Their team consists of developers
in India, designers in the US, a virtual assistant, PR agent and bookkeeper - all
from the site.
 Busiest work categories are (in descending order): Web Development &
Programming, Design, Admin Support, Writing (including Translations and
Transcriptions), Marketing & PR, and Research.
 The typical buyer runs a small business (usually less than 20 people). No
sectoral bias: companies seem to vary from boutique financial firms, Internet
companies, property and PR agencies. See PeoplePerHour in action on
http://www.peopleperhour.com

Web Site: http://www.peopleperhour.com

Contact Details: For further info, contact: Penny Haywood at PHPR on 0131 669 5190
(day or evening) or email penny@phpr.co.uk.