Free Agent

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Thanks will do. Are there really stalkers on here

Only HMIT and psychocandy.

[northernladuk]

I'd really be interested to know whether free agent is easy to use for a beginner.

I have been playing with it and it seems to do much more than my accountant said I would need to.

Is it overkill for a contractor? I thought I would be paying my accountant for wages and Vat not doing it myself, or do others leave that part to the number cruncher?

It's pretty easy to use, couple of things you have to search out but there is a forum for help and normally your accountant should be able to. One of the best things about it is the accountant can also view it and advise straight off the bat without having to send spreadhseets backwards and forwards etc. Will your guy do that?

It's perfect for a contractor. It will calculate your VAT and you can set your pay so you can do the RTI. Just put your gateway details in and hey presto it's submitted. Your VAT should get paid automatically if you have a direct debit set up. Setup a standing order at the same time as your RTI and happy days..

I do seriously hope you've worded this sentence wrong though....

I thought I would be paying my accountant for wages and Vat not doing it myself,

You should not be paying your accountant for anything except for his services.. This is why.

Darren Upton, Married Accountant, Jailed For Stealing £500,000 To Lavish On Mistress Victoria Fraenzel

An "incredibly deceitful" accountant who took hundreds of thousands of pounds from clients to fund his luxury lifestyle has been jailed for six years, court officials confirmed today.

Darren Upton, 40, arranged for cash that clients paid him to settle tax bills to be paid instead into his bank account.

Let's assume the above isn't the situation but it still sounds like the accountant is trying to cover his arse. How much are you paying him? An accountant with Freeagent should be around 80 quid or so as much of the legwork is being done by you. Sounds like he's trying to dumb down how much it does so you don't leave him.

[Ketto]

The iphone app is probably my second most used, after CUK. Brilliant for doing your expenses and sorting invoices.

[DannyF1966]

I've been contracting for nearly two years under a Ltd and been using FreeAgent since I set my company up. I find it very easy to use, it links in to my business bank account (you can upload csv statements manually if you wish) and I categorise each payment accordingly - sales, expenses, dividends etc

I enter my day to day expenses and upload receipts as proof. I've also done some work for other clients on an ad-hoc basis and billed them separately, and FreeAgent handles creating the invoices, letting me know if anything's overdue etc.

My accountant submits the paperwork to HMRC once I've confirmed I'm happy with the figures, and he does my payroll for me. When I see the payslip appear on FreeAgent I pay myself that month's salary.

The only problem I've had with it was with some of the ad-hoc work I did for the other clients. Some of the work involved buying hardware (for PC builds, repairs, upgrades etc) which I sold on to the clients. Because I'm on the flat rate VAT scheme it didn't work out the VAT properly and my accountant had to put in some journal entries to tidy everything up, but other than that I've been extremely happy with it.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

The only problem I've had with it was with some of the ad-hoc work I did for the other clients. Some of the work involved buying hardware (for PC builds, repairs, upgrades etc) which I sold on to the clients. Because I'm on the flat rate VAT scheme it didn't work out the VAT properly and my accountant had to put in some journal entries to tidy everything up, but other than that I've been extremely happy with it.

If you explained it as cost of sales then the vat would have been treated properly (ie, ignored). If you explained it as computer hardware or similar it would have capitalised it and, if over £2k, deducted the vat.

[DallasDad]

I have found free agent dead easy to use from a newbie perspective.
It does not directly support self billing invoices though like those from Hays IT but that's not in any way a major issue.

You really would be well advised to use an accountant that provides it as part of their service then you get the best of both worlds

[pr1]

I do seriously hope you've worded this sentence wrong though....

"I thought I would be paying my accountant for wages and Vat not doing it myself"

You should not be paying your accountant for anything except for his services.. This is why.

I think she meant "I thought I would be paying my accountant to sort my Payroll/RTI and VAT returns, not doing it myself"

Which is a fair question - and the FreeAgent accountant I'm with is happy to do them for me if I want (I prefer to do them myself with them just checking, so I get a good feel for what's what). Using FreeAgent (or a similar portal) is a win-win for you and the accountant, it helps you understand your business better and it does a lot of the donkey work for the accountant, which is why they can offer it as part of their overall charge whilst remaining competitively priced

[darmstadt]

Reading through this thread (and others) I'm a little bit unsure of what an accountant does in the UK. Here I don't do anything much, I hand over all my receipts, bank statements, bills, etc. that have some relevance to my status as a freelancer and they do the rest. Prior to the information going off to the tax authorities, they produce a 'book' for me which has everything in such as incoming and outgoings, I read it through and if I agree then I sign it off and everything goes off to the taxman. I then just wait for the tax bill. They do a couple of other things for me quarterly such as sorting out my VAT but really, I don't have to do a thing which is the way I like it...

[SueEllen]

Reading through this thread (and others) I'm a little bit unsure of what an accountant does in the UK. Here I don't do anything much, I hand over all my receipts, bank statements, bills, etc. that have some relevance to my status as a freelancer and they do the rest. Prior to the information going off to the tax authorities, they produce a 'book' for me which has everything in such as incoming and outgoings, I read it through and if I agree then I sign it off and everything goes off to the taxman. I then just wait for the tax bill. They do a couple of other things for me quarterly such as sorting out my VAT but really, I don't have to do a thing which is the way I like it...

It depends on what you need. Accountants in the UK for simple businesses don't tend to do bookkeeping for their clients however they do check up on it.

Some people need accountants to do everything for them including checking up on their bookkeeping regularly and advising them when they can take dividends. Others just ask their accountant to do the company corporation tax return from their bookkeeping.

General services are:
1. Payroll for directors
2. VAT returns
3. Cooperation tax returns
4. Advice on how to deal with changes in legislation

[Danglekt]

Reading through this thread (and others) I'm a little bit unsure of what an accountant does in the UK. Here I don't do anything much, I hand over all my receipts, bank statements, bills, etc. that have some relevance to my status as a freelancer and they do the rest. Prior to the information going off to the tax authorities, they produce a 'book' for me which has everything in such as incoming and outgoings, I read it through and if I agree then I sign it off and everything goes off to the taxman. I then just wait for the tax bill. They do a couple of other things for me quarterly such as sorting out my VAT but really, I don't have to do a thing which is the way I like it...

*grabs pocorn*

I'm now ready for all the "not a proper contractor" comments....

I use an accountant to do all the submissions, provide advice and give me a nudge - but I do the grunt work.