looking for an accountant

[d000hg]

Why use an accountant to do legal checks for?

I don't use a lawyer to do my accounts so I don't use an accountant to do contract reviews.

BTW I'm not doubting your abilities as an accountant.

100% agree. I would outsource it to appropriate lawyer/expert and absorb the fee.

Is that what other accountants offering these services do? Or do they rely on experience - having seen so many contracts and been privy to HMRC investigations - rather than specialist legal training?

[JB3000]

I'll be contracting from Jan or end of this year (will be opening a limited company) and am looking for a good accountant. I've noticed quite a lot of people recommend nixonwilliams however they do not review contracts for IR35 compliance. I've also been looking at crunch who do. Everyone has different opinions about crunch. Looking at qdoscontractor, it would appear to cost £100 for a contract review... unless that's for the entire year?

edit: please do NOT PM me about your companies, post the info in this thread instead

At the end of the day it depends on who you get at crunch, qdos or nw.

If you get allocated to someone decent at crunch that would probably be better than getting allocated to someone rubbish at nw. Although I don't think you get an allocated accountant at crunch which I think is why they are cheap.

Probably intouch is the way to go as they can do ir35 as well for only £92+vat and you just get to deal with one person which makes things less stressful.

[d000hg]

Having one main person is something I quite like too.

[Sausage Surprise]

If you have a basic grasp of "contractor type" accounting then Crunch are excellent value for money in my opinion.

[Ticktock]

QDOS do 3 free contract checks a year if you take out PI/PL insurance with them which I am pretty sure you are going to need at some point.

I may be mistaken, but I believe they only give one free review now. Still, better than nothing, and as you say, you'll need the insurance anyway.

[Kenny@MyAccountantFriend]

Is that what other accountants offering these services do? Or do they rely on experience - having seen so many contracts and been privy to HMRC investigations - rather than specialist legal training?

IPSE (formally PCG) provide training courses with tests and assessments for accountants to take to get qualified to review contracts and these involve annual refresher courses as well.

It also helps to have experience as well as the two go hand in hand.

A lot of people fail the assessments when taking the course so cannot class themselves as IPSE/PCG accredited.

For example when I took the course I went with 3 other colleagues and all 3 of them failed where as I passed.

I believe now you also have to be qualified as an accountant to attend there courses as well.

[TheFaQQer]

I believe now you also have to be qualified as an accountant to attend there courses as well.

It's a good job grammar and spelling weren't part of the course...

[cinek]

got an email (out of the blue) from optima professional. Has anyone heard of them? Seems to good to be true? Limited Company Contractor Services, Umbrella Company UK | Optima

[ContrataxLtd]

got an email (out of the blue) from optima professional. Has anyone heard of them? Seems to good to be true? Limited Company Contractor Services, Umbrella Company UK | Optima

Hi Cinek

I've asked 'Jonathan' on their live chat the following question (about 5 mins ago):

Yes, how can you offer me 83% return? I turnover about £100,000 on an average year through my current LTD.
I currently take home about 68% so 83% would be very appealing to me.

I'm still waiting for a reply.............

I think that says it all really, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. Especially given the fact that corporation tax is currently 20% any take home in excess of 80%* is very hard to achieve in most circumstances.

* Assuming £50,000 t/o and new dividend tax rules from next year.

Martin
Contratax Ltd

[pr1]

Hi Cinek

I've asked 'Jonathan' on their live chat the following question (about 5 mins ago):



I'm still waiting for a reply.............

I think that says it all really, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. Especially given the fact that corporation tax is currently 20% any take home in excess of 80% is very hard to achieve in most circumstances.

Martin
Contratax Ltd

come's with a free IR53 review! whatever that is!
Setting up a limited company for contracting | Optima