Sole Trader startup headaches!

harryhound

Perhaps I should start a new thread; but taking the low level activity of selling books, do you need an accountant?

Are you going to make enough, especially in the first few years to need to go from cash accounting to accrual accounting?

Will you have enough OWNED assets to need to do depreciation?

How much time can you spare to mug up on tax accounting ? Are you interested literate and numerate enough to do it yourself ?

My "family" experience of using "professionals" to manage the accounting side of something low key and simple means annual repeat fees for the firm involved plus the services of trainees. This means muddled accounts that are difficult to take back from the firm involved. Any minor saving in tax was more than cancelled by the annual charge - it is not entirely the accountant's fault - he/she is probably carrying serious overheads and demands a much higher rate than that earned by his small clients.

Would someone like to put numbers on the costs of having an accountant to produce the accounts and annual return of a private DIY book seller ?

Harry.

It is similar to having an architect design a house extension and then have to pay him a fee every year to check it all again.

harryhound

Perhaps I should start a new thread; but taking the low level activity of selling books, do you need an accountant?

Are you going to make enough, especially in the first few years to need to go from cash accounting to accrual accounting?

Will you have enough OWNED assets to need to do depreciation?

How much time can you spare to mug up on tax accounting ? Are you interested literate and numerate enough to do it yourself ?

My "family" experience of using "professionals" to manage the accounting side of something low key and simple means annual repeat fees for the firm involved plus the services of trainees. This means muddled accounts that are difficult to take back from the firm involved. Any minor saving in tax was more than cancelled by the annual charge - it is not entirely the accountant's fault - he/she is probably carrying serious overheads and demands a much higher rate than that earned by his small clients.

Would someone like to put numbers on the costs of having an accountant to produce the accounts and annual return of a private DIY book seller ?

Harry.

It is similar to having an architect design a house extension and then have to pay him a fee every year to check it all again.

Snow_Dog

As a sole trader an accountants annual charge could be as little as a couple of hundred quid, as a limited company triple that.

Does a "private DIY book seller" need to produce accounts, I would have thought an annual personal tax return would be sufficient which is usually best to go through it with an accountant 1st time or two then after that DIY.