How to find a good accountant

IronWolf

I am soon going to be selling something on the website I run and will need an accountant to advise me on some matters as well as do the usual tax returns.

I am starting out as a sole trader to keep costs low and things simple, but the plan is to set up a company after a couple of years if the website looks likely to be a success.

I would also likely consider the Isle of Man for incorporation for tax reasons, the business will be completely online so its only physical presence will be servers (currently in California but easily moved) and me on my laptop (in UK), so I think its a possibility but I don't know much about how to do it or if it is realistic or not.

I need an accountant that can advise me firstly on selling, most of which will be abroad outside EU so sales tax rules are unknown to me, and also on incorporating the business in the future and where best to do that.

I have contacted a local accountant but they ignored me, others have said they can't advise on international sales but can do the UK bit, then quote me a ridiculous fee of over £1k just for doing the sole trader tax return.

Where can I find an honest, intelligent, reasonably priced accountant? (Im in London, but everything is digital so accountant could in theory be anywhere)

Pennywise

IronWolf wrote: »

then quote me a ridiculous fee of over £1k just for doing the sole trader tax return.

If that's all they're doing, then the fees are crazy. You'll easily find an accountant who'll do a simple sole trader tax return for £250. But, is the tax return all you want them to do? What about the profit & loss account and balance sheet (or don't you want them), what about book-keeping (or are you doing it all yourself using some decent software properly). What about VAT - doing it yourself or expecting the accountant to do it?

International sales taxes are specialist - no-one could possibly know all about sales and profit taxes in all other countries - it's hard enough keeping on top of the UK taxes. A very small number of UK firms specialise in overseas taxes, or alternatively you're looking at Top 10 firms who have offices overseas - very expensive.

As for Isle of Man, if you're living in the UK and controlling your business from the UK, then it pays UK tax on its profits - being in the IOM just adds costs and complexity. It only works for people who are non resident in the UK or genuinely own a business that is operated by staff overseas. But, why not contact a few IOM accountants to get it from the horses mouth?

Like dating, you'll have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. If you've not got any recommendations of a good accountant, you have to put the effort in to contact several for quotes and services and choose the one that you feel is most suited. Don't restrict yourself to local accountants - plenty of internet ones these days so there's plenty of choice.

IronWolf

Pennywise wrote: »

If that's all they're doing, then the fees are crazy. You'll easily find an accountant who'll do a simple sole trader tax return for £250. But, is the tax return all you want them to do? What about the profit & loss account and balance sheet (or don't you want them), what about book-keeping (or are you doing it all yourself using some decent software properly). What about VAT - doing it yourself or expecting the accountant to do it?

International sales taxes are specialist - no-one could possibly know all about sales and profit taxes in all other countries - it's hard enough keeping on top of the UK taxes. A very small number of UK firms specialise in overseas taxes, or alternatively you're looking at Top 10 firms who have offices overseas - very expensive.

As for Isle of Man, if you're living in the UK and controlling your business from the UK, then it pays UK tax on its profits - being in the IOM just adds costs and complexity. It only works for people who are non resident in the UK or genuinely own a business that is operated by staff overseas. But, why not contact a few IOM accountants to get it from the horses mouth?

Like dating, you'll have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. If you've not got any recommendations of a good accountant, you have to put the effort in to contact several for quotes and services and choose the one that you feel is most suited. Don't restrict yourself to local accountants - plenty of internet ones these days so there's plenty of choice.

At first I just need the tax return, I can keep records myself, it'll be quite simple as I'm only selling one product in low volume so can easily be done in a spreadsheet.

VAT won't be a problem for a long time I think, as most of my sales will be to the US so it doesn't apply, and I don't expect to go over the VAT threshold for EU sales anytime soon.

Is there a site where I can find some online accountants? Doing Google searches seems to produce the more expensive ones.

Thanks

colino

If you are currently trading as you say, then why have an accountant at all? A low volume, one product business isn't going to tie you up in knots.
If you really are expecting to hugely mushroom the business, ask around for recommendations from people in a similar, though not associated business. (Import export for example).
There are a lot of accountants around, though most who look after businesses really are historical accountants; guys who hoover up paperwork towards the end of the year and present it nicely for HMRC.
High growth businesses need to get on board active accountants who as well as knowing the drill on compliance, can actually help hook you up with additional expertise to help drive the business forward and raise finance.

IronWolf

colino wrote: »

If you are currently trading as you say, then why have an accountant at all? A low volume, one product business isn't going to tie you up in knots.
If you really are expecting to hugely mushroom the business, ask around for recommendations from people in a similar, though not associated business. (Import export for example).
There are a lot of accountants around, though most who look after businesses really are historical accountants; guys who hoover up paperwork towards the end of the year and present it nicely for HMRC.
High growth businesses need to get on board active accountants who as well as knowing the drill on compliance, can actually help hook you up with additional expertise to help drive the business forward and raise finance.

Well I was hoping that a good accountant could save me money in tax, at the moment my websites revenue and cost is negligible so I do it myself, but when I launch this new product the cost (and hopefully revenue!) will suddenly be into 5 figures a year and at that level an accountant could be worth the money.

I hope it will be high growth but Im selling a digital good so no extra capital is required for growth, all I need is the website and the rest takes care of itself, registration and download all happens automatically. The only consequence of growth will be a possible increased frequency of enquiries and support.

IronWolf

Well I emailed a load of accountants I got from an awards site, figuring that the ones that win awards must be decent.

A total 1 accountant got back to me, arranged a telephone meeting, and then didn't bother to call at the agreed time. Has since gone dark.

Accounting must be a booming industry if they can't even be bothered to call a potential client back!

Has anyone got any recommendations of a good accountant that will actually call me back? Send me a PM if you dont want to share

Thanks

Pennywise

You're probably best to phone them rather than email. Like all businesses, accountants get their fair share of chancers and tyre kickers so it's hard to work out the genuine enquiries from the time wasters.

stardust09

Iron Wolf, did you get my PM last week? I thought you might want to look into Paul Light from Business Fundamentals in Nailsea (https://www.business-fundamentals.co.uk). I got a simple tax return done for my very small business for £312 including VAT! I was quoted £1000 if I was a limited company, which I'm not. I rang and got a response the same day.

candace_2

Thanks for starting this thread and for the advice so far. I am dissatisfied with my accountant thus far because I expected them to go the extra mile for me. He advertised his services in terms of experience and expertise, yet I've noticed my taxes for the past two years passed to his assistant and basically quickly done as data entry. I feel passed over and, yes, offended. So trying to look for a better accountant now before it is too late again.

IronWolf

So I've found an accountant which seems good, he's quoted me £1,000 to do company accounts and I think £250 to file them with companies house. Are these pretty reasonable for a ltd co?

InsideInsurance

You need to find out exactly what is and isnt included.

Most accountants will do a simple form filling job for around £1,000 for a vSME inc PAYEE, VAT, CH returns and director's SA assuming you give them the data preformatted in a way thats convenient for them.

Whilst they will answer straight forward questions this wouldnt include a very pro-active service. Accountants are generally around £150/hr, more in London, so it doesnt take much to work out that your grand a year isnt buying that much of their time.

I agree with others on here that you need to find someone with experience in your type of business. So I go with someone who's an expert on IR35 and came recommended by other consultants. Whilst I am sure he'd do a reasonable job for you as this isnt your area of business you'd be better off finding someone who has more direct experience with international considerations and off shore incorporation etc.