FreeAgent

[northernladuk]

A few Qs for those contractors and accountants who use FA:
- Do people upload receipts or just bung them all in a shoebox and worry about linking them should HMRC come knocking?

I file them, don't bother linking them

- How do people manage the risk of a complete data loss? Do Accountants have some kind of backup or if FA dies do both contractor and accountant find themselves in a bind?

You can extract your data from FA on regular intervals if you want but I'm pretty confident there isnt such thing as a complete data loss. Am sure they have a backup schedule, hot swap etc. Ask them if you are worried.

- How much do FA accountants do? I'm used to just doing my monthly invoice, expenses and mileage and all other elements (rti setup, payroll, tax and vat calcs etc) are done by my Accountant and I get email reminders. I can see you could do all that yourself via FA but I don't want to! For those with an Accountant who uses FA, what is the general working model?

Dunno. But the accountant on spreadsheets won't do much less. You are paying for the account to keep up with legislation and give you the best advice and to be there at then end of the phone to speak to you at anytime. I'd imagine actually doing the sums in this day is not the main part of their job.

[pr1]

"all other elements (rti setup, payroll, tax and vat calcs etc) are done by my Accountant and I get email reminders. I can see you could do all that yourself via FA but I don't want to! For those with an Accountant who uses FA, what is the general working model?"

You and your accountant both have access to it so once they're approved as your agent for tax etc through HMRC they can submit things for you once you've told them everything in freeagent is up to date of course (phonecalls are good things) - freeagent is only as good as the numbers you plug into it

(they use their login details when they submit things, you use yours - freeagent tracks it as "done" once either of you have done it)

I have the same accountant as nluk and she submitted the RTI & my other HMRC stuff for me while I was getting to grips with it all (I've recently swapped in from a non-spreadsheet non-freeagent accountant), now I'm up to speed on it, it takes about the same amount of time for me to do it as it would have taken to email/call her asking her to do it (i.e. not very long at all)

[FK1]

For those with an Accountant who uses FA, what is the general working model?

FreeAgent for Accountants - FreeAgent

Trial balance feed into accounts production software

The most of them just declared their acceptance for FA for SEO, marketing etc but still keep their prices the same as for "traditional" accounting while you pay for FA/Xero/etc separately.

It is changing. Money moves to software vendors. For instance, from £100pm it is becoming £50-£60pm to pay to an accountant and the rest you pay for the software.

So the point is to look for "integrated" rather than for "traditional" accountancy.
Lean business.

P.S.
Having the same in more comfortable way you may reduce your accounting costs in a few times. Personally I desire to spend not more than £100-£200 as one-time payment to an accountant (for FA review and filing) making the annual costs under £600. It is simple reasonable.

[DallasDad]

I am new to using FA
Before seeing this thread I asked about self billing elsewhere so have a grip on that even though I find it odd FA does not support self billing natively.

I am a bit surprised there is not a 'daily' repeat option in the drop down menu for mileage.
Also confused if it is required/acceptable to link the same receipt to say 10 different individual daily mileage expense entries?

What is the most elegant way to enter repeating daily mileage i.e. 3-5 identical return journeys per week?

If I record each day and related receipt details in a separate spreadsheet (which I do now), is it sufficient to simply enter each monthly or weekly total as a mileage expense in FA irrespective of how many receipts I may have accumulated in that month?

Or should each cumulative expense by created to reflect a particular single receipt?

Basically in simple terms how do you do it?

[northernladuk]

There is a recurring expenses option that will do what you want no? It's not hard to miss if you are entering an expense surely. It asks you if this expenses recurs.If it doesn't do what you want just roll it up. 20 days travel to client at 10 miles a day.

And why do you have a receipt for mileage?

You might want to hit google, ask on the FA forums or speak to the accountant that supplies you FA first.......

[Waldorf]

And why do you have a receipt for mileage?

You might want to hit google, ask on the FA forums or speak to the accountant that supplies you FA first.......

Perhaps he's not on the flat rate VAT scheme, therefore with a receipt he can reclaim VAT on an element of the mileage rate.

[northernladuk]

Perhaps he's not on the flat rate VAT scheme, therefore with a receipt he can reclaim VAT on an element of the mileage rate.

Hmm from his posting history I would have guessed his issue lies elsewhere but that's a possibly. Good point.

[DallasDad]

I meant I keep scan and file vat receipts for each tank full not individual journeys- I have done this religiously for ages.

Yes I am using the flat rate scheme so no I won't be claiming the VAT back.
I am a bit of a fuss pot so probably over complicating it.

I am probably incorrectly thinking I needed to do it like I had when I was as a permie and more recently under an umbrella i.e. needed to provide a Vat receipt which was then allocated proportionately to the journeys.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

If you're claiming mileage and not reclaiming fuel VAT then you are indeed wasting your time. All you need is a reasonable log of your journeys, the mode of transport and distance.

[northernladuk]

You seriously need to speak to your accountant a little more lol...