Is this a good Accountant quote for Ltd?

wheredoesallthetimego

Join PCG
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I pay about £90 per month inc vat and that includes everything including personal tax with 2 rental properties.
I have been with them for years - they know me when I call (only ever deal with 3 people there). They call back when they say they will and understand they sometimes need to keep reminding me about things.
They also understand that I would much rather lose a bit to tax than do anything that might be considered dubious.
My one VAT inspection in over 20 years of business took about an hour and he said he would recommend there was no need to inspect again soon - he did seem interested in how I got work, whether I worked at home, multiple clients, any bad debts... all IR35 ish rather than VAT.

stphnstevey

Just a summary I did. I know that the quotes aren't quite like for like as some of the Accountants didn't quote me on some tasks (although I asked them all the same).

X Y Z
Company formation £130 £140 £125
Assisting Company SetupVAT + PAYE £200 £70
SETUP £330 £210 £125

Company Acc + Corp Tax return £650 £400 £625
PAYE for employees £194 £35
Tax return of directors £200
ANNUALLY £1,044 £435 £625

These are all +VAT

X is the one were I received the most 'advice' from, but there is about £100 setup difference and about double the annual charge between them and Y. Z I have doiscounted as I didn't like them but left in to compare price.

EDIT: Sorry it was set out lovely in an excel table, but these posts won't except pasting in a spreadsheet and it also deletes spaces you put in to seperate the columns

stphnstevey

Accountant Y is about half the price of accountant X, but accountant X was a bit better with their advice - Hmmmmmmm

chappers

Sounds very reasonable to me apart from the Ltd company setup.
My accountant set up my first Ltd company and charged me £350=VAT for the privilige.
I have since set up two other Ltd companies using http://www.uk-plc.net/ for £25+VAT.
If you are in a hurry they can set up the company instantly with there in house directors as directorsand their address as your company address and then you can change the directors for free using the relevant documentation.
If you have a bit more time you can fill in the forms and they will sort it for you.

I have had no problems using them and they will talk you through the whole process.It really is quite simple and you will save yourself afew beers into the bargain.

Stipple_2

I used to run my own ltd company until recently, in the IT consulting arena. IR35 didn't apply as I had many customers in any given year.

I paid £120 for someone to set up my ltd company (not an accountant), but realised I could have done it easily myslef. I got hold of some accounts for another similar company and cribbed the layout etc and did my own accounts. Also did my own VAT returns. If you're bright enough to be an IT consultant you're bright enough to prepare accounts. If you can figure out Javascript or C++ you can figure out how company accounts work.

I never used an accountant until I came to wind up the company. Then I paid £500 for advice on how to do it - primarily on how to minimise CGT on the cash that had built up in the company.

So an option for you could be to pay an accountant to do it for the first year so you see how it's all done, then do it yourself. You don't have to have an accountant.

Stipple_2

Further to the above - I made an error of my first annual company tax return. My Report and Accounts were fine but the tax return form itself had a mistake on it - I'd entered turnover in a box that should have contained profit, or something like that. The amount of tax payable I'd worked out was just about spot on. The Revenue's online corporation tax calculator had done the sums for me.

A nice lady from the tax office rang me and said I'd made a mistake and would I like to go through the tax return with her? I went for a chat with her at the Revenue office and she pointed out one or two minor things I'd got wrong and she showed me how to do it so that I'd get it right the next year.

Anyway, the point is that the tax people are very nice, hepful people as long as you are honest. And in my case they gave me some good, free, advice.

stphnstevey

Pennywise wrote: »

Yes, there is a slight problem - it is generally recognised that the LAST THING you should do is get an opinion from HMRC as to whether or not the contact is caught by IR35. You are putting your head above the parapet - HMRC status inspectors regularly argue a contract is caught only to lost at appeal. Well over 1000 cases have been argued in the appeal hearings from tax inspectors and they have won less than a handful! You get your contract reviewed by an IR35 expert - i.e. Accountax, QDOS, bouer & cotterill, not HMRC!

I understand your point. However my brother has also some valid points:
- Everybody gets inspected at some point if they are trading for a long enough period. For instance my brother in ten years has been inspected twice
- Therefore is it not better to get confirmation now, then wait for an inspection in five years to say I am not IR35 compliant? In five years I might need to pay back an awful lot of tax and also be fined more for not paying the correct about of tax.

chappers

yes but get the opinion from an expert outside of the HMRC.
HMRC will nearly always tell you that you should be within IR35 and more often than not they are trying it on.Remember with almost anything to do with HMRC, they tell you what is what and it's up to you to prove otherwise.

annsie

As above I think set the company up yourself on line for £25.

THere does not need to be a payroll done monthly at all. You can fill in your P35 online and pay yourself £2000 and have no tax liability or payroll costs.

you could have a sole trader status under your limited company to deal with motor expenses and the like. The ltd co then pays a fee to your sole trader status and reduces the amount of tax that you pay.

Personally I would go with the second accountant as someone who is proactive from the word go will always have your best interest at heart. check out the flat rate scheme for VAT as you may not have a lot of VAT charged and this is much easier to do your own VAT returns.

hope it works out

stphnstevey

chappers wrote: »

yes but get the opinion from an expert outside of the HMRC.
HMRC will nearly always tell you that you should be within IR35 and more often than not they are trying it on.Remember with almost anything to do with HMRC, they tell you what is what and it's up to you to prove otherwise.

I know, I can see both sides of the arguement!