I have been with InTouch for nearly an year now and joined them after finding positive recommendations here. But, my experience has with them has been very ordinary.
My PAYE payment to HMRC was not adjusted with the refund due from HMRC and I had a torrid time asking questions about this, this was when I already discussed the refund due with them earlier in the year and I was assured that this will be adjusted against the payment to HMRC at the year end.
Most accountants have facility to generate a PDF payslip for the salary and send it to you by email, but InTouch asked me "Why do you need a payslip, you can just look the payroll data on the portal". Again, after some discussion it was agreed with them the account will mark in her 'diary' to remember sending me the payslip. This was an year ago, but till date I have never received the payslip without me reminding them in the first or second week of each month.
Some accountants suggest that they do not charge their monthly fee or charge a reduced fee if you are out of contract for a certain period, but InTouch do not have such policy and you continue to pay them the monthly fee even if you are not adding any data to the portal or asking for advice when you are on the bench.
Also, on the forum I have noticed some contractors suggesting that one can claim JSA in the periods when you are out contract, again InTouch initially suggested that this is not possible, when I mentioned that I will not draw any salary in those months and will claim JSA, I was told that 'it gets very messy' if you do that.
They claim on their portal that they provide IR35 assessment included in the monthly fee - this is NOT true as till date I am still to have any IR35 advice from them. This is even after asking them.
So, in a nutshell - if you go even a little bit outside the normal regular stuff, just forget about getting proper attention from them. I was told that "They haven't reviewed mycontract as I mentioned that I will get Qdos to review it."
If I am getting a barebone service which just does the bare minimum, I might as well go to Crunch or similar service.
Also, how about using Freeagent on your own without engaging any accountant, a common myth is that you need an accountant to do your year end accounts, is this true?
My PAYE payment to HMRC was not adjusted with the refund due from HMRC and I had a torrid time asking questions about this, this was when I already discussed the refund due with them earlier in the year and I was assured that this will be adjusted against the payment to HMRC at the year end.
Most accountants have facility to generate a PDF payslip for the salary and send it to you by email, but InTouch asked me "Why do you need a payslip, you can just look the payroll data on the portal". Again, after some discussion it was agreed with them the account will mark in her 'diary' to remember sending me the payslip. This was an year ago, but till date I have never received the payslip without me reminding them in the first or second week of each month.
Some accountants suggest that they do not charge their monthly fee or charge a reduced fee if you are out of contract for a certain period, but InTouch do not have such policy and you continue to pay them the monthly fee even if you are not adding any data to the portal or asking for advice when you are on the bench.
Also, on the forum I have noticed some contractors suggesting that one can claim JSA in the periods when you are out contract, again InTouch initially suggested that this is not possible, when I mentioned that I will not draw any salary in those months and will claim JSA, I was told that 'it gets very messy' if you do that.
They claim on their portal that they provide IR35 assessment included in the monthly fee - this is NOT true as till date I am still to have any IR35 advice from them. This is even after asking them.
So, in a nutshell - if you go even a little bit outside the normal regular stuff, just forget about getting proper attention from them. I was told that "They haven't reviewed mycontract as I mentioned that I will get Qdos to review it."
If I am getting a barebone service which just does the bare minimum, I might as well go to Crunch or similar service.
Also, how about using Freeagent on your own without engaging any accountant, a common myth is that you need an accountant to do your year end accounts, is this true?
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