PAYE Solution - Accountant, Software or Online

[Sockpuppet]

What are peoples feelings on this.

Just got a quote of £30/month for accountants to process my payroll returns. Which is bordering on 7% of the £419 I'll be paying myself per month.

Just seen people like www.thepayrollsite.co.uk offering it for £5 per month but there is also options such as Sage Instant Payroll and I could do it myself.

I know there is the argument that "how much is my time worth" but £360 (12 months) would get me for just over a day and a bit at the moment so surely over the whole year I can do it cheaper than that.

Ideas?

Done some searching but cant seem to find anything relevant. Looking for ideas on if Sage is the way to go as it could pay for itself in under 3 months if its easy etc.

I'm not doing anything more complex than low salary high dividend.

Cheers
Richard

[MrsGoof]

Diy

[dmini]

Payroll yourself. You get the basics on the CD from Inland revenue. That will do up the "forms" they require, all the paye calculations, and file in a database of some sort.
I have a spreadsheet, that I take the figures out of the CD sheet, to give a net pay and total monies to Inland revenue etc. Spreadsheet takes about 5 minutes to do each month.
All that's left then, is paying the money to Hector, and end of year completions - my accountant is doing them, if I cannot - but they aren't that complicated. Plus if you file online you get a bonus - £100 I think this year

[chuddy]

I am looking at the same problem at the moment and have yet to decide... still negotiating on first contract... however, I did speak to a family member that is working in an accounts office and she told me that they use "Simplex D" books. Anybody used these before? They sounded like the de-facto thing to use and she did say that they were very simple.

[Sockpuppet]

Depends on how much they are.

I picked up a copy of new copy of Sage Instant Account for ebay for £80 (even got a VAT reciept) and that is saving me some money already. Accountant said he wouldnt do my VAT return as if I was recording everything in sage already then there is no point as I can do it all myself, just phone him for advice as and when I need it.

I can get a copy of Sage Instant Payroll for about the same and if that does it all for me then all is well, not making a decision on that one though untill I have looked at the spreadsheet method as that is also good. Depends on how hard it is.

[dmini]

Sage Instant payroll is not easy - if there is just one of you it is overkill.
I looked at the cheap stuff, didn't do what I wanted, as figures need updating etc, but then realised HMRC gave me a system, on a CD in the New employers pack that is dead easy to use, can handle any tax code, etc (once you realise it is there!) It takes less time to do that, as to pay myself through banking & set up HMRC's cut, to go out a few weeks later. You should have registered with them & got the CD. If you can't find this bit I can give you directions at the weekend.
Why spend £80 when you dont need to!

[Mustang]

I have decided not to go with Sage/Quickbooks unless I was going to grow the company and have others working with/for me.

I am quite happy with a variety of spreadsheets (invoices, expenses, company accounts) and recording all the details on a month by month. I then hand over to my accountants. They do the PAYE, end of year accounts etc. I know I pay a fair amount for these services but at least I know they are 100% done and correctly too. My accountants will take care of all the additional form filling and paperwork on my behalf and just send me a copy.

I think it's a good sign of being in business in your own account to realise that you need to focus on doing the job you are good at and bringing in others to help out. If my accountants becomes too costly I will use a book keeper to do some of the things that my accountants do.

[Woody]

Online Saves Time

I use an online system and I reckon it saves time.