Vat help

WhyNot?

AbbieCadabra wrote: »

can't offer anything on VAT but we're very happy with our online accountancy service. we used a local 'old school' accountant for years as we didn't know any better, old fashioned, slow with advice & never really explained things, charged us over £2k per year for the privilege too!

I keep all our accounts simply on excel docs & send them online at our year end. accountant doesn't usually have any queries or need to send any actual documents to her either. basic queries are answered straight away by email, you can have more involved advice/guidance but think this would cost extra. we pay £650 per year inc. vat. we use

We do something similar for our company, but use a local accountant who sorts everything out for us and files our annual accounts
He used to charge us about £375 a year, but now we have the complication of VAT, he's warned us the price will go up by about £50

Having said that, now we are registered for VAT, we can reclaim the VAT he charges us :money:

It's good with a local guy, beacuse if we ever have any queries during the year, we can call him and he's happy to advise foc (as long as it's not too complicated and time consuming, of course)

Jm90

When we spoke with them they told us we would have to pay the VAT from the day the accountant back dated it too. 8th may. They understod that we couldnt have charged vat at the time but that was how it was. Which is why I'm guessing the accountant said to ask the clients to pay what was owed.

We've now sent a letter to HMRC asking to push the VAT start date to a date that suits us. It's at their discretion whether they accept though. Not heard either was as of yet.

Give them a call and see what they say

Jm90

Thank you Abbie, we are waiting for a call back from them.

We are getting rid of our accountant now. He hasn't done a thing other than send us a letter from HMRC for him to be able to act on our behalf.

Does anyone know how we go about getting rid of him. Just tell him and that is it or give him notice type thing?

We've still not had our pay slips or a wage from the business this month. He is awful.

Suarez

Jm90 wrote: »

Does anyone know how we go about getting rid of him. Just tell him and that is it or give him notice type thing?

Just give a written notice that you want to terminate his services.

Are there any minimum terms within the engagement letter?

If you are appointing a new accountant they should handle the transfer of records.

Jm90

Hi there. Thanks for your reply.

Ok we will send him that tomorrow. I feel bad as it's my father in laws old accountant/friend but he's just no good. Surely he should be making our life easier, not more difficult.

Anyway no contract or agreement was signed between him and us.

Just a HMRC letter of consent for him to act on our behalf?

Suarez

Well that's pretty poor from the start. You should have received an engagement letter to sign which would give details on what services and responsibilities the accountant will take on for you.

Do you know if he's practising under a professional body?

I would just give him a letter explaining you wish to terminate his services then search for an accountant who is registered with either AAT/ACCA/ICEAW as they will be regulated and monitored for CPD, registered for MLR etc.

Jm90

We have let him know and he has sent us a letter stating we owe certain monies for his services, including setting up payrole which is odd as he didn't send us any pay slips or anything.

It's a low amount, so may just pay it and be done with it

We have been in contact with a new accountant who has said they would like us to register our office address to theirs so any letters from hmrc and so forth go straight to them. Is this standard practice?

Thanks

martindow

Jm90 wrote: »

We have been in contact with a new accountant who has said they would like us to register our office address to theirs so any letters from hmrc and so forth go straight to them. Is this standard practice?

Thanks

It is quite common. Some people do this to avoid issues if they are renting or there are covenants on their house prohibiting running a business.

Is the accountant going to charge extra for this? You can decide whether you want to do this or not.

Jm90

Thank you for replying. It's all in with the price he has quoted.
We just wasn't sure if it was odd it the done thing.

We are new to this and trying to find someone we trust.

AbbieCadabra

our registered company address is our home at the moment, but we're re-locating early next year & i'll change it to our accountants then, for a small increase in our current monthly fee. it's a common arrangement.