Do we need an accountant?

lauraaurora

We formed a ltd company in September last year. At the time we hadn't started trading and so did not fill in form CT41G, but sent the relevant letter to the tax office.

Now we have started trading and have received a few cheques.

At the same time, we have to fill in our Annual Return. I have started to fill it in online, but not yet submitted it.

I have also started to fill out CT41G, but am stuck at the bit where they want us to provide info of the IR office dealing with our PAYE... We won't be paying ourselves anything as any monies we receive for a while will go towards paying for the equipment we bought.

Is there some magical website/ book that will explain all to us, or do you suggest we hire an accountant? I am concerned that as we are not making a huge amount of money, I don't want to spend any more than we have to. Does anyone have a rough idea of how much per annum we could have to pay an accountant?

Sorry if this all sounds naive, it's just that this business is a part-time venture for us, not a major source of income.

Thanks in advance!

Pennywise

All the information you need to do your own accounts and tax returns is on the HMRC website and the Companies House website. It is perfectly possible for you to do it yourself IF you have the patience and inclination and are willing to learn how. It is neither easy nor difficult, just time consuming. I always liken it to servicing your car - you can do it yourself (and take the risk of messing up) or you can pay the professionals to do it. Many people do it themselves and get help along the way from forums such as these. To pay an accountant, you'd be looking at anywhere between say £300 and £1000 p.a. on average depending upon how good your record keeping and procedures are - the more you do yourself (properly that is) the cheaper the accountant will be but if your books are a mess, then it'll cost you more.

There have been a couple of interesting threads over in the tax section that may interest you:-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=556714
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=556742