Starting Small Business - Accounting

rishishah

I have setup my limited company (IT Consultancy) and will setup the bank account and register for VAT in Jan. I plan to start the business in April and currently just myself and my wife are the employees of the company.

I am looking for a recommended accountant around the Camberley, Surrey Area. Any advice would be recommended.

Many thanks,

Rishi

silkcutblue

If it is a simple task of very little (volume) going through your books then do it yourself.

Get quickbooks or something similar - it's very easy, and saves a fortune.

rishishah

Thanks for your reply and this is what i was thinking at first...

I can get Sage Instant with the PAYE option for uder a £100, but do packages like this do all of the accounts required for a small company.... i was thinking like my end of year returns, balance sheets, ect

Pennywise

You DO need an accountant if you run a limited company - NOT required by law or regulations, but they are so much more complicated than being a simple sole trader a Ltd co is a separate legal entity and you have to know what you're doing when taking money out as you need supporting paperwork, i.e. for wages, dividends, loan repayments, expenses, etc. The fines for getting even simple things wrong are truly amazing - £100 PER MONTH for being late with the employers annual return for example, fines starting at £100 but easily increasing to several hundred and ultimately £1000 for being late filing accounts and tax returns. A basic accounting package is fine for the book-keeping but won't be good enough for preparing accounts in the format required by Companies House and HM Revenue & Customs which stretch to 10 pages or so and include supporting notes, directors report and have to be prepared in accordance with accounting standards and under the Companies Acts requirements. There are so many ways of doing things differently to save tax with a company - a good accountant will save his fees many times over. Just make sure that you get one who knows about IR35, wages versus dividend payments, and the current state of proposed income shifting legislation - sadly too many accountants take the easy option and accept HMRC guidance - a good accountant will look at your circumstances and tell you how to get around IR35, pay a low wage thus saving NIC and make maximum use of your spouses tax reliefs and bands - all potentially saving thousands in tax. There are plenty of accountants who regularly post on https://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk who seem to be well regarded and recommended by others on that forum - why not pop over there and ask the same question . By the way, you don't need a local accountant - there are hundreds of accounts specialising in IT contractors all over the UK, most of which work via the internet with online accounting systems (many provide these free, thus savings your costs of Sage etc) - there is seldom any real need to "meet" your accountant these days.

moneypooh

Any particular reason why you started a Ltd company as opposed to a partnership??

rishishah

For IT Consultancy a Ltd is the best option as most organisation contracting us ask for a Ltd to bill to.

Also there are a few tax advantages such as paying dividence and using the flat rate VAT scheme....

moneypooh

sorry to be a bit inquisitive but why do they do that?

ashleypride

moneypooh wrote: »

sorry to be a bit inquisitive but why do they do that?

To make sure you don't have any "is this person really an employee" of the company issues. Such as them getting employee rights, or HMRC suggesting the company is avoiding NIC payments.

moneypooh

Why does that require a LTD company bill? Surely you can trade in any capacity not necessarily Ltd?? Still confused as I've never come across this before

blue_monkey_2

Likewise, why register for VAT? Surely there is no need to do that until you actually hit the threshold? Also, I would not register until you have started trading because you'll have to file Nil returns and then should something happen you'll have to deregister and that is easier said than done!

ashleypride

blue_monkey wrote: »

Likewise, why register for VAT? Surely there is no need to do that until you actually hit the threshold? Also, I would not register until you have started trading because you'll have to file Nil returns and then should something happen you'll have to deregister and that is easier said than done!

Because it's a good way to earn more money. You sign up for flat rate, and collect more VAT than needs to be paid back to HMRC.