IR35. This is a UK-specific problem. I can't speak about the Republic. HMRC (the tax office) has a rule that was intended to stop people gaining the tax advanta

IR35. This is a UK-specific problem. I can't speak about the Republic. HMRC (the tax office) has a rule that was intended to stop people gaining the tax advantages of being self-employed while actually being permanently employed on repeating contracts. Over the years it has expanded in scope, and a change a few years back meant that the company employing a freelance was responsible for determining if they were actually self-employed or not. If they are later found to have wrongly determined that someone was self-employed, they are responsible for the back income tax. This pushes them heavily in to passing on the responsibility to someone else, in this case the middleman company. There are other complications, but that's the basic story. And no, setting up your own personal services company is not a solution.