Anyone used Paystream?

[Fred Bloggs]

I noticed that you could upload receipts to freeagent. If I went with an accountant without freeagent, do you know how submitting expenses would work? Would it just be sending them a table of expenses on Excel, and not sending receipts, or do all accountants need the receipts sent to them one way or other?

If it's the latter, I can quickly see how Freeagent would be beneficial!

I had a look through the suggestions you recommended for accountants but they all seem more expensive than paystream and unless i'm missing something, they both do the same job (bar the £300 winding down fee paystream have). Paystream have their own cloud based system to store expenses and update transactions etc.

I've had a read through your freeagent thread but I'm not quite sure I understand the real benefits of it. How does it help you day to day? It it more the fact that you can immediately see how much take home pay there is in the company account without having to go to the accountant or something else? Sorry for all the noobie questions! >.<

Thanks again for all the help everyone!

Regarding cost, have you checked out my recommendation for a FA accountant then? It is quite apparent by your questions that you really need to try the one month FA trial. All the questions you ask will suddenly be answered quite positively, I'm sure.

[quackhandle]

Used to be with them many moons ago, they were decent at the beginning however started cocking up (wrong account No's to pay HMRC) and not admitting it, wanted a fee for me to leave.

Had to get in touch with owner/director. Wouldn't touch with a barge poll.

qh

[kristen330]

Used to be with them many moons ago, they were decent at the beginning however started cocking up (wrong account No's to pay HMRC) and not admitting it, wanted a fee for me to leave.

Had to get in touch with owner/director. Wouldn't touch with a barge poll.

qh

Thanks for the heads up! I was with a similar umbrella company who underpaid me for over a year until I figured out their scam. Luckily I got a refund but I wouldn't go near IMS with a bargepole either as they're the sister company of the firm that screwed me over!

[MonkeysUncle]

Used to be with them many moons ago, they were decent at the beginning however started cocking up (wrong account No's to pay HMRC) and not admitting it, wanted a fee for me to leave.

Had to get in touch with owner/director. Wouldn't touch with a barge poll.

qh

I am with Paystream at the moment and regret it.
Out of 4 payslips I have received from them ( I get paid weekly).
They have overcharged me on 2!!!
I am now looking at moving away.

[SteelyDan]

When I first started out contracting, many years ago, I signed up with these people. They were very knowledgeable, very helpful, & full of good advice - I, on the other hand, knew nothing about contracting, or how it all worked in those days, so thought Paystream would be the answer to my prayers on starting out as a contractor.

Problem I had with them was they could not do simple arithmetic, i.e adding up a list of expenses, etc. I found myself needing to double check everything, and after 3 strikes (& heated calls) they were 'out'; I'd lost all faith in them by this time. I found a decent, local accountant, & went ltd. I'd like to think that things have improved since my time with them, but judging by some of these posts...

[psychocandy]

I've decided to use an accountant my dad uses. They charge 750+vat for the year, including everything including vat set up and returns, paye, self assessment returns, company returns, the whole package! Only thing I need to do is set up the limited company and bank account and send them the details.

Speaking of bank accounts, are there any basic business bank accounts that I could use? They all seem to charge for them - don't really understand why and how they are different from normal personal current accounts?

Are they contractor it specialists? If not beware..... I've got some horror stories for you.

Back in the day when IR35 first came out a local accountant wanted to charge me £750 for "research into IR35". Yeh right. I'll tell client they owe me a weeks pay while I stay home and read the manual.

Even this time around, different local accountant didn't have a clue. Tried to tell me I couldn't use a limited company, and that HMRC would'nt let me trade if I only had an invoice to one client a month. Lasted weeks that one.

[radish2008]

I've decided to use an accountant my dad uses. They charge 750+vat for the year, including everything including vat set up and returns, paye, self assessment returns, company returns, the whole package! Only thing I need to do is set up the limited company and bank account and send them the details.

Speaking of bank accounts, are there any basic business bank accounts that I could use? They all seem to charge for them - don't really understand why and how they are different from normal personal current accounts?

You can't use a personal account at a bank for business purposes. Why would you be surprised they charge ? I think I pay about £10 a month, it's not exactly earth shattering.

[TheFaQQer]

Speaking of bank accounts, are there any basic business bank accounts that I could use? They all seem to charge for them - don't really understand why and how they are different from normal personal current accounts?

Metrobank don't charge if you have a balance over £5k in there.

Details here.

[Fred Bloggs]

Metrobank don't charge if you have a balance over £5k in there.

Details here.

Snag is, I'd have to travel at least 400 miles round trip to visit a branch for account opening. Maybe they will change that in time.

[TheFaQQer]

Snag is, I'd have to travel at least 400 miles round trip to visit a branch for account opening. Maybe they will change that in time.

Some accountants will facilitate that, if you are still using one. Mine opened the account for me and set up the data feed into their non-FA system - which also means that they get the data direct and I haven't had to share my login with anyone (it was set up before I even had internet or mobile banking working).