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accountant problem
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dannybbb
Posts: 152 Forumite


My accountant charged me to set up payroll 5 years ago - I recieved a bill for the last 5 years of running payroll - im a one person company, he had never set out ricing or send any invoices in the last 5 years and now wants £2000.
one thing is that it feels very unfair / unreasonable to be charged for services i know nothing about over sucg a long time, the other is that it seems high at 35 PM + other costs. Is tide a good wayto run payroll - any other good solutions?
one thing is that it feels very unfair / unreasonable to be charged for services i know nothing about over sucg a long time, the other is that it seems high at 35 PM + other costs. Is tide a good wayto run payroll - any other good solutions?
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by the way the inly invoice was for thr setting up of payroll, which i paid at the time. He also tried to guilt me into paying by saying no other clients had an issue with the 5 year charge coming in at once0
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dannybbb said:My accountant charged me to set up payroll 5 years ago - I recieved a bill for the last 5 years of running payroll - im a one person company,dannybbb said:he had never set out ricing or send any invoices in the last 5 yearsdannybbb said:... and now wants £2000.dannybbb said:it feels very unfair / unreasonable to be charged for services i know nothing about over sucg a long time,dannybbb said:the other is that it seems high at 35 PM + other costs.£35 isn't entirely unreasonable?
N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec & Tracker gas / Vodafone BB / iD mobile. Ripple Kirk Hill member.
2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 3.6kw inverter. 34 MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.Not exactly back from my break, but dipping in and out of the forum.Ofgem cap table, Ofgem cap explainer. Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Best kettle!0 -
dannybbb said:My accountant charged me to set up payroll 5 years ago - I recieved a bill for the last 5 years of running payroll - im a one person company, he had never set out ricing or send any invoices in the last 5 years and now wants £2000.
one thing is that it feels very unfair / unreasonable to be charged for services i know nothing about over sucg a long time, the other is that it seems high at 35 PM + other costs. Is tide a good wayto run payroll - any other good solutions?
What did the original agreement / fee proposal state when the payroll was set up 5 years ago?
If that agreement indicated that a monthly fee applied, and that monthly service has been provided but not invoiced by the Accountant, then the Accountant can invoice now and the sum is due to be paid. Your Ltd Co. has then benefitted from 5 years of interest free credit.
I assume that the £2k invoice is inclusive of VAT, so the actual invoice value to your business is £1,666 + VAT. That makes the actual monthly charge £27.75 + VAT, not the £35 you state. Obviously, if your business is not VAT-registered, then the VAT-inclusive amount is more important to you.
If you establish that the past fees are due to be paid as agreed 5 years back, then they need to be paid. If the service / rate charged does not represent good value going forward, you can seek to negotiate with the Accountant or find an alternative provider or bring the process "in-house".0 -
You could do all this yourself for free, using the hmrc’s own basic paye tool. It’s a bit clunky, but it works. Hmrc have videos and run webinars on how it works. Once you are used to it, it only takes a few minutes a month and that includes updating hmrc, generating a payslip and paying hmrc any tax due. Obviously the year ends, generating P60s and creating the new tax year take longer, but it’s perfectly feasible to do it yourself.That said I don’t think that price is unreasonable. Payroll companies charge the same sort of amount.
If you feel it unreasonable to pay that amount in one lump sum, and I agree you should have been issued invoices at least annually, then negotiate a payment plan. If you feel that the service should have been included with the accountants annual fee for producing your accounts, then that’s a different conversation to have.I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.1 -
fees were never set out, I appreciate that payroll services were provided but at no point over the last 5 years was I made aware that this would incur additional costs apart from the initial invoice and all subsequent invoices i have recieved and paid, i didnt I receive any other billing I’ve never had the chance to even assess or question the cost. I dint think its a professional way to go about things and feels unfair
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It may feel unprofessional, it may feel unfair, but the question you haven't answered is:Grumpy_chap said:It is not unusual that operating a payroll system has an initial, one-off charge for setting up the Ltd Co. and for each employee added or removed from the system plus a monthly charge for each payroll processed.
What did the original agreement / fee proposal state when the payroll was set up 5 years ago?
If that agreement indicated that a monthly fee applied, and that monthly service has been provided but not invoiced by the Accountant, then the Accountant can invoice now and the sum is due to be paid. Your Ltd Co. has then benefitted from 5 years of interest free credit.
(DH uses Basic Tools. Only one of us was cursing and struggling with the April payroll run, at the start of the new tax year. He was finding it really slow to move on to 2025-26, I was done in a jiffy.)
Signature removed for peace of mind0 -
dannybbb said:fees were never set out, I appreciate that payroll services were provided but at no point over the last 5 years was I made aware that this would incur additional costs apart from the initial invoice and all subsequent invoices i have recieved and paid, i didnt I receive any other billing I’ve never had the chance to even assess or question the cost. I dint think its a professional way to go about things and feels unfairI'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0
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dannybbb said:fees were never set out, I appreciate that payroll services were provided but at no point over the last 5 years was I made aware that this would incur additional costs apart from the initial invoice and all subsequent invoices i have recieved and paid, i didnt I receive any other billing I’ve never had the chance to even assess or question the cost. I dint think its a professional way to go about things and feels unfair
Five years ago, you paid a fee for a payroll service to be set up.
The payroll is then operated monthly.
Whatever the basis of the initial fee, it really cannot possibly have been for setting up the payroll and operating the monthly payroll for ever...
I can see a basis where the initial fee covered the first 12 months of payroll submissions. Even a structure where the initial fee was, effectively, zero subject to the first 12 months being paid in advance. But not an initial fee that lasts forever.1 -
Grumpy_chap said:dannybbb said:fees were never set out, I appreciate that payroll services were provided but at no point over the last 5 years was I made aware that this would incur additional costs apart from the initial invoice and all subsequent invoices i have recieved and paid, i didnt I receive any other billing I’ve never had the chance to even assess or question the cost. I dint think its a professional way to go about things and feels unfair
Five years ago, you paid a fee for a payroll service to be set up.
The payroll is then operated monthly.
Whatever the basis of the initial fee, it really cannot possibly have been for setting up the payroll and operating the monthly payroll for ever...
I can see a basis where the initial fee covered the first 12 months of payroll submissions. Even a structure where the initial fee was, effectively, zero subject to the first 12 months being paid in advance. But not an initial fee that lasts forever.
I would argue that being responsible for the preparation of the annual accounts, requires at least a cursory glance that your own firms fees are included in the accounts.I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0 -
faced with the cost of living crisis your accountant is, like everyone else, looking for extra income and has "realised" they have been providing a service you are "not" paying for..
This whole thread comes down to what others have already pointed out: what services are listed in the original letter of engagement (contract) you have with the accountant.
If ongoing monthly payroll is not mentioned then you and the accountant now need to negotiate a fee and the invoice you have received is an opening gambit for that fee.
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