My accountant.!

[Darren_Test]

I am with one of the top contractor account paying £100+ every month for the last 2+ years. Things were great in the beginning after many changes in handlers (I suppose my case handed over to more inexperienced resources) now I am finding too many mistakes from them. Every number I query come back with an apology and correction!

So looks like time for a change..

I am on bench and not keen to pay £100 per month. So planning to take over that job myself. I am sure duplicating monthly payslips and profit loss calculations in similar lines will not be that difficult, especially since I am in bench now.

I am told about HMRC real time (RTI) for monthly done by the tax consultant now. How could I get access to this..?

I know i might have to take help from tax consultant for yearly submission next year (accounts upt o Jan 2017 already submitted).

Key task as I understood are..

1. Monthly PAYE submission
2. Monthly profit/loss calculation
3. Quarterly VAT
4. Annual returns

Am I missing any..? Should I be able to perform this in simiar way to my current calculations until there is some changes in tax rate etc..? Thanks very much.

[northernladuk]

Am I missing any..? Should I be able to perform this in simiar way to my current calculations until there is some changes in tax rate etc..? Thanks very much.

That sentence alone tells me you shouldn't be doing it by yourself. Learning how to do your own accounting on a free internet forum. What could go wrong?

Find yourself an accountant that is willing to suspend rates for bench time, or at least reduce them. Plenty do.

[Lance]

being blunt. If you don't know everything that is needed it's not wise to do it on your own.

I changed accountant, almost certainly from the same company, to a FreeAgent accountant. I did this whilst on the bench as that's a good time to change.
I shopped around, and chose Gorilla (not the cheapest but the most suitable package I felt).

You also get some free months from them.

As you'll still end up paying for an accountant (I reckon anyway), and you find out that it'll cost you the same to get them to do the ad-hoc work, then the monthly fee doesn't seem so bad.

[Michael at BI Accountancy]

We along with other accountants on here will offer a dormancy service for times you are benched.

Our fee for instance goes down to £30+VAT, this covers all NIL returns etc and your FreeAgent subs.

[Chart Accountancy]

Dormant company accountancy fee is normally in the region of £10+vat a month and there is no need for the FreeAgent subscription as a dormant company has no transactions.

[Chart Accountancy]

In terms of accountancy fee in periods when out of contract, the OP could ask their accountant to negotiate a reduced monthly fee. Most accountants are prepared to do this or enquire with other accountants. We also include FreeAgent in our packages and offer reduced monthly fee for periods out of contract.

[Michael at BI Accountancy]

Dormant company accountancy fee is normally in the region of £10+vat a month and there is no need for the FreeAgent subscription as a dormant company has no transactions.

By Dormancy service I am referring to period's when a contractor is benched, not a full year's dormancy in which case is rare.

Are you suggesting you'd turn your clients subscription to FA off when they are benched?

[Chart Accountancy]

By Dormancy service I am referring to period's when a contractor is benched, not a full year's dormancy in which case is rare.

Are you suggesting you'd turn your clients subscription to FA off when they are benched?

You could turn the subscription off with the clients agreement to this. The account will still be there under your practice dashboard but the client will not have to pay for the license in months when out of contract provided that no transactions are pending to be entered. The account can be made active when the client needs it again. If it is a dormant company, I will transfer a read only access to the client but this will remove the account from your Practice dashboard.

[simondolan]

You could turn the subscription off with the clients agreement to this. The account will still be there under your practice dashboard but the client will not have to pay for the license in months when out of contract provided that no transactions are pending to be entered. The account can be made active when the client needs it again. If it is a dormant company, I will transfer a read only access to the client but this will remove the account from your Practice dashboard.

Wy do you charge them for FreeAgent at all? It makes your life easier doesn't it?

[TheFaQQer]

Wy do you charge them for FreeAgent at all? It makes your life easier doesn't it?

You never have to charge for a spreadsheet