considering to cease trading by 30 sep 11

jexygirl

If this is not the first time s/he has caused you problems, I would get a new accountant, in fact I would have asked him for reimbursement the first time and then gone elsewhere.
That being said, despite the fact that I have an extremely good accountant whom I trust with my life (my business being my life...) I still know "roughly" give or take a week, when things are due such as the VAT or the PAYE or end of year self assessments etc. I pay him to file/sort all of these, but I still know when it happens/should happen, and when a bill is due, and would notice if it didn't come as I would be expecting it ...so would contact him to check.
Accountants are fanatastic, and getting a good one is imperative as they can make or break your business in some respects, however, you are paying them to do your books / accounts in the most beneficial way to you, you are not paying them to run your business, you should still be on top of whats due in and out and when, especially when it comes to ~HMRC. Lessons learned.
As Paul says, pay up is the simplist answer, you owe it, you were late filing as a company, regardless of who was directly responsible for the filing - oh on that note... get a new accountant.
I think suggesting that you go back to sole trading and closing down a company to avoid it, suggests to me that there is more than just this issue outstanding.

steve1980

All this for £191? Is it worth it?

Off topic, hi Jexy!

Horace

jmeader wrote: »

ok again the payments have always been made this is purely an online form that is submitted annually that this year failed to do on time and has now cost me a fine so im asking for some advice for what to do not be put down, im considering taking it off his next bill

Firstly, find a new accountant and transfer all your business to him, notify the HMRC that your current accountant is a rogue and you can find out if he is a chartered accountant - there is a body that looks after accountants Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, if he is a member there then report him to them.

I know someone who had similar problems with an accountant not submitting returns on time etc and it took an age to sort out - in the end he had to find a new accountant.

Sorry if I misunderstood, you were talking about closing your company and re-opening to get the HMRC off your back and it looked as though you are trying to get out of your tax liabilities.

BlondBoy

What does your agreement with your accountant say? For my limited co, it's very clear what they're responsible for doing, and what I'm responsible for doing as a director.

Sounds unfortunate, but winding up the limited co for the sake of the fine for the P35/P14 being late (which is what I'm guessing it is) would be madness. It'll be a lot less bother to just pay the fine. HMRC won't let it lie if you wind the company up.

Sounds like it's worth changing accountants though - and probably worth your while ensuring you're absolutely sure who's going to do what (and just as importantly when) with the new accountant.

texranger

jmeader wrote: »

you misunderstood me, payments have always been on time so im not guilty of that

my query relates to the accountant's failure to submit the form and warn me it would become a problem, i pay him good money to handle my affairs and have been let down and question why i should pickup the tab? i might add this isnt the first time he's caused me to be fined. so perhaps you'll reply with your thoughts on this

it is your responsibility to make sure that all payments and forms are submitted on time to the right people.

it does not bother HMRC if you pay somweone to do this for you the responsibility is yours and not your accountants.

if my account cause me to be fined then i would find another accountant straight away, i would not continue with the accountant so that he can do this again.

if the accountant is a member fo any official body then report him and then pay your fine and then find another accountant. then when you get your accountant invoice deduct the ammount you paid in the fine and pay him the difference with a reason why .

BoGoF

jmeader wrote: »

you fool i came here for advice not to be put down, i just want to know why i should have to pickup the tab for the accountant's error

I'm the fool? Look your original post was about dodging the penalties and you were quite prepared at that point, until it was pointed out how stupid that was, to wind up your ltd company.

Like the others have said, change your accountant but you are liable for the penalty, no one else.

texranger

HMRC are not stupid.

you wind up a ltd company, but continue to trade as a sole trader to avoid a tax bill, all you have done is changed the legal entity of the business, the business is still trading. Doing this could lead to you having a custodial sentence for tax evasion

MonkeySaving?

You may run a computer support business (with a shocking website I might add) but you're not very computer "savvy" are you? A quick search of "jm computer support limited" in google brings your site back first and on the second page a link to this thread detailing your intention to evade tax, not very clever at all. Suggest you take note of the other posters on here, pay what is owed and then delete this thread.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I am not even going to waste my time and give the op advice....

Annisele

It took me a few months to wind up my limited company. Companies House wanted a letter from HMRC to confirm that my company had paid all its tax (which it had), but that took a while to get hold of. Then there were notices and other bits and bobs (I'm not sure exactly what they were - my accountant is decent and he dealt with them). Bottom line is that you can't just close a company down whilst it owes HMRC money; they're not utter idiots and they do talk to Companies House.

Your accountant might well ultimately be liable for the £191 - but you still have to pay HMRC in the first instance; whether or not you can get the money back from your accountant is not HMRC's problem. However, I'd suggest that for a measly amount like that you'd be better off spending your time finding a decent accountant and switching to him.