Do I need an Accountant if I go for FreeAgent?

[ladymuck]

For registered office address I use Office Serv (https://www.office-serv.co.uk/) which costs the princely sum of £24 a year for a simple mail forwarding service.

[hobnob]

For registered office address I use Office Serv (https://www.office-serv.co.uk/) which costs the princely sum of £24 a year for a simple mail forwarding service.

Thanks, that's useful. Looking at the various options on their website, my only disappointment is that they don't offer a document storage option, so this wouldn't work as a SAIL address:
Statutory records (SAIL) - Contractor UK Bulletin Board
However, I can't do that with my accountants either, so this is no worse (and significantly cheaper).

[ladymuck]

Thanks, that's useful. Looking at the various options on their website, my only disappointment is that they don't offer a document storage option, so this wouldn't work as a SAIL address:
Statutory records (SAIL) - Contractor UK Bulletin Board
However, I can't do that with my accountants either, so this is no worse (and significantly cheaper).

I seem to recall that might have changed? Definitely remember an email recently from CoHo about documents. I'll see if I can find it in the morning.

[hobnob]

I seem to recall that might have changed? Definitely remember an email recently from CoHo about documents. I'll see if I can find it in the morning.

You might be thinking of this:
Changes to company registers - Changes to UK company law
Basically, there are some registers which no longer need to be available for inspection (e.g. a list of directors' home addresses). However, there are other registers which do still need to be available (e.g. a full list of shareholders, not just people with significant control). So, that comes back to the question of where you keep them if you don't want to publicise your home address.

[ladymuck]

You might be thinking of this:
Changes to company registers - Changes to UK company law
Basically, there are some registers which no longer need to be available for inspection (e.g. a list of directors' home addresses). However, there are other registers which do still need to be available (e.g. a full list of shareholders, not just people with significant control). So, that comes back to the question of where you keep them if you don't want to publicise your home address.

Yeah you're right. I'd forgotten to check this morning but that's exactly what it is.

I can't remember what my SAIL address is. I may be non compliant

[Flashback]

Thanks, that's the same option I came up with as well.

The other thing you lose is someone to write up a reference letter for you (sometimes needed for contracts, sometimes for non-work related things).

[Flashback]

For reference - there are a few scenarios where using FA isn't going to be able to submit the accounts, so in those scenarios you'll still need to go via an accountant (or some other digital way) to submit accounts.
https://support.freeagent.com/hc/en-...XC2FB82J6AQB64

[ladymuck]

Thanks, that's the same option I came up with as well.

The other thing you lose is someone to write up a reference letter for you (sometimes needed for contracts, sometimes for non-work related things).

The reference thing is very salient. Just going through a torturous onboarding process with Adecco, where everything is geared up for permies regardless of the contract type and, if I'd binned off my accountant last year when I started thinking about it, I'd be screwed right now for a reference. They don't seem to understand that clients aren't interested in giving references for contractors, but are happy if you say the hiring manager is no longer there so their email will return a NDR.