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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Dan Frazer Gardening on February 25, 2012 at 19:16

Chris, I was quoted £250 for doing basic tax return, up to £800-ish for preparing accounts and doing the return. I can see the advantage once employing and I'll probably be in touch with someone to do my books this year as it should be a busy one.

I expect they will pick up on a number of things we didn't know about in our favour and perhaps against us too.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on February 25, 2012 at 19:32

I would look at this another way - not how much it costs but what it will save you. A good accountant is worth every penny.

An old joke which is still very true today - when selecting an accountant ask three of them what 10 + 10 equal, the two that say 20 and or 19 get dismissed, select the one how asks you what you would want it to equal!

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Permalink Reply by Nic Johnson on February 25, 2012 at 19:45

haha i like the sound of this :)

Graeme @ BGS said:

I would look at this another way - not how much it costs but what it will save you. A good accountant is worth every penny.

An old joke which is still very true today - when selecting an accountant ask three of them what 10 + 10 equal, the two that say 20 and or 19 get dismissed, select the one how asks you what you would want it to equal!

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Brian www.mibservices.co.uk on February 25, 2012 at 19:53

Chris expect to pay £1000 - £1200 per annum, a good accountant will save you 3 times that and avoid any that tell you, you will only pay a few hundred quid a year in tax 

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Chris Auld on February 25, 2012 at 20:06

That seems a bit steep considering i only have one employee, not sure if it would be worth it?

www.mibservices.co.uk said:

Chris expect to pay £1000 - £1200 per annum, a good accountant will save you 3 times that and avoid any that tell you, you will only pay a few hundred quid a year in tax 

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gary Hedges on February 25, 2012 at 20:09

I pay £250 and a yearly hedgecut.
My accountant saves me £££'s.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Chris Auld on February 25, 2012 at 20:14

If you dont mind me asking Gary, wht exactly does your accountant do for this?

Gary Hedges said:

I pay £250 and a yearly hedgecut.
My accountant saves me £££'s.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Brian www.mibservices.co.uk on February 25, 2012 at 20:22

Chris if your at the employing stage, get yourself an accountant mate, they will save you a lot more than their fee

Chris Auld said:

That seems a bit steep considering i only have one employee, not sure if it would be worth it?

www.mibservices.co.uk said:

Chris expect to pay £1000 - £1200 per annum, a good accountant will save you 3 times that and avoid any that tell you, you will only pay a few hundred quid a year in tax 

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gary Hedges on February 25, 2012 at 20:28

She submits my tax return and presents me with a set of accounts.
I must admit I do a lot of the work myself eg reconciling all my bank statements and receipts and breaking them down into categories eg fuel, stationary etc.
Obviously it would be more expensive if I handed her a box of receipts and bank statements and let her sort it all out.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Andrew @ The Outsidedge on February 25, 2012 at 22:51

My accountant billed me £820 inc VAT, for 10/11 the tax year. Self assessment submission cost £125 of that figure. The rest was for the preparing the accounts and sorting out items from the previous year. The more you can do to help your accountant, as in reconciling, having all the receipts in categories added up etc, the less you will be billed for. A good accountant, and more importantly, one that you can have a raport with, is money well spent. 

Gary Hedges said:

She submits my tax return and presents me with a set of accounts. I must admit I do a lot of the work myself eg reconciling all my bank statements and receipts and breaking them down into categories eg fuel, stationary etc. Obviously it would be more expensive if I handed her a box of receipts and bank statements and let her sort it all out.

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Permalink Reply by John on February 25, 2012 at 23:38

I pay £350 approx a year, and then hand my accountant all the relevant details on the

spreadsheet she has given me, a few months before the end of the tax year.

 Worth every penny, even if I do accuse her of stealing me blind, every time I see her :)

Do not let the accountant do your payroll "stuff" - it is so easy if you download the Basic PAYE

Tools program form the HMRC site. 

P11= weekly NI and tax deductions for your employees before paying them . P 32= monthly totals of employee NI &tax to be paid to HMRC on the 19th of each month.

 

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Rowly Hill on February 25, 2012 at 23:57

We are  a Ltd Co...( or should that be it is a Ltd Co)...we prepare everything upfront for our accountant and we are not interested therefore in the charges accountable towards preparation and submission of the end of year company accounts - although I challenge him every year about how high they are...nothing lost!

What we pay for is the advice on how to maximise our/the companies tax allowances. 

The charge  annually is IRO £650 and every year I've sat and written the cheque out with no complaints and thought...I'd not known or thought about that myself as I'm not an expert in that field. Money very well spent!

That's another thread to consider - "do you believe you are saving your business money by trying to be a jack of all trades?"

The other point, I've mentioned a few times previously is that we are in regular contact with our accountant ( at no extra charge I hasten to add) as we plan and prepare prior to the end of year submission...if I was to use an analogy to a recent trailer thread " its no good getting to the weighbridge to find you are over loaded"!

Reacting to predicted end of year figures with good/sound advise..worth every penny. Getting to the end of year and saying " oh what could or should I have done to reduce my liability"...not so good.

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