Set up new Ltd Company opinions please

RammytheRam

Hi
I've been a sole trader for over 17 years.
I'm thinking about setting up a new company doing a completely different business.
My current accountant (who I am really happy with) wants to charge me about £300 to set up the new company.

Does that sound a good deal?

I see these online companies do it for 30 odd pounds upwards.

Is it worth paying the extra??

Thanks

Rammy

chalkie99

No, absolutely not a good deal!

It is perfectly straightforward to do online and if I had an existing accountant who was going to line his pockets like that I would be transferring all my business away from him.

Have a look at Companies Made Simple.

heretolearn_2

Depends what is included.

As accountants we now charge a minimum of £350 for ltd company set up - but we do a lot more than the basic registration. Once that's been done there are other things that have to be done to completely set up the company to a tax-effective and legally compliant in all ways firm.

We used to do a very cheap service for less than £100 but have stopped, as everyone we did it for would come back a week or two expecting us to do every thing else for them as well and complaining it wasn't covered by the registration, or have a bash at doing it themselves and mess it up or miss bits out that then led them into problems. They were not happy, we were not happy, so we stopped.

There's more to setting up a company than registering a name/contact info with Companies house! For example do you know what to do about the stock transfer you have to do on set up. What forms you need to do now with the HMRC? What you are required to put on your literature? Is there any planning that needs to be done for transfer of goodwill from the sole trader business to the Ltd company - this can gain you a lot of money when handled right and if you do nothing about it you are losing money! If you feel ok about doing the rest, then go ahead, if you'd rather pay the accountant to do it for you, then pay for it. Sounds like a reasonable fee if it covers the same sorts of things we do. If it really is just the basic companies house reg on its own, then that's quite a steep fee. So you need to find out what you get. For example, we also include business advice and tax planning. It's all very well having a company but do you know what to do with it?

podperson

Definately doesn't sound like a good deal to me. I set up a limited company a few years ago now but went through one of the online companies and was fine - made sure I read everything through and was aware of exactly what I was getting, spoke to the tax office, who advised me on everything for their end and confirmed with Companies House that all was set up correctly there. Might have taken me a little faffing so I could be sure I was happy it was all done right but took me a couple of hours tops so no way I would have paid £300 for it.

chalkie99

heretolearn wrote: »

Depends what is included.

As accountants we now charge a minimum of £350 for ltd company set up - but we do a lot more than the basic registration. Once that's been done there are other things that have to be done to completely set up the company to a tax-effective and legally compliant in all ways firm.

We used to do a very cheap service for less than £100 but have stopped, as everyone we did it for would come back a week or two expecting us to do every thing else for them as well and complaining it wasn't covered by the registration, or have a bash at doing it themselves and mess it up or miss bits out that then led them into problems. They were not happy, we were not happy, so we stopped.

There's more to setting up a company than registering a name/contact info with Companies house! For example do you know what to do about the stock transfer you have to do on set up. What forms you need to do now with the HMRC? What you are required to put on your literature? Is there any planning that needs to be done for transfer of goodwill from the sole trader business to the Ltd company - this can gain you a lot of money when handled right and if you do nothing about it you are losing money! If you feel ok about doing the rest, then go ahead, if you'd rather pay the accountant to do it for you, then pay for it. Sounds like a reasonable fee if it covers the same sorts of things we do. If it really is just the basic companies house reg on its own, then that's quite a steep fee. So you need to find out what you get. For example, we also include business advice and tax planning. It's all very well having a company but do you know what to do with it?

Looks like you didn't read the post

setting up a new company doing a completely different business

paulwf

From various threads on this forum I would say if there is going to be more than one director of the company - especially if a 50/50 split being considered - then professional advice from an accountant or solicitor is essential.

I paid about £25 to a formation company online and everything was easy to handle. heretolearn makes some good points and I think it depends on your accountant what strategy is best. Mine has a fixed yearly price so I could pick their brains while setting up but if that isn't the case I can see how the £300 soon adds up.

Annisele

When I set up my limited company I paid my accountant about £1k, but I thought that was a very good deal. It included quite a lot of general business advice, advice about how to set the company up (memorandum and arts slightly tweaked), and the first year's accounts.

I knew that I could do it much cheaper - partly because my accountant gave me details of the absolutely minimum cost if I did it myself, and partly because I got much cheaper quotes from other firms - but I was very happy with the guy I went with.

Premier_2

RammytheRam wrote: »

Hi
I've been a sole trader for over 17 years.
I'm thinking about setting up a new company doing a completely different business.
My current accountant (who I am really happy with) wants to charge me about £300 to set up the new company.

Does that sound a good deal?

I see these online companies do it for 30 odd pounds upwards.

Is it worth paying the extra??

Thanks

Rammy

That's a question only you can answer.

You know how much it would cost to do yourself and so you should discuss with your accountant why he thinks you should pay him to do it.

I gather from others that £300 is about the going rate for an accountant to perform this service.

am

I gather from others that £300 is about the going rate for an accountant to perform this service.

For less, you can do it yourself but it's probably circa that amount for an accountancy to do this. Anything between 25-100 a month for accountancy services would be the normal rates in regards to sole traders and limited companies. With the Internet, you can look around obviously and you can work remotely too.

blinko

it depends if the company is turning over 100k then £300 is nothing. I usually charge £150 for company setup. This includes registration for PAYE, VAT, Companies house, Corp tax and company bank account (although this will mainly be done by the client)

RammytheRam

Thanks for all your answers. It gives me something to think about. Just for info it's £250+ for the set up and £1300+ for the first years return (even if it's only made £100 in the first year!!
What I'm planning is really an experiment so I'm not sure I want to commit to £2k.
Cheers
Rammy