Moving on from InTouch (Brookson)

[jamesbrown]

Interesting, thanks.

I'm just looking at a list of services offered in the Bronze package here:

https://paperrocketaccounting.com/limitedcompany/

I'm wondering how much of that is pretty much a given when using Free Agent and for anything that arises not on that list, do FA have a support line that can help out, even at additional one-off expense?

I mean, would I be paying just over £ 1.5k a year for what Free Agent already provides out of the box, and that box is free to me as an RBS customer?

It would cost a few hundred quid to get your year end returns done. Personally, I don't think the standard contractor accountancy packages make much sense in FA. It is extremely easy to manage your payroll, VAT returns etc. I would also say this is essential, especially before CK/Boox has played out. The more control you have, the better. You need to pay attention to filing deadlines and have your calendar set up with all of them. Don't get me wrong, you can make a blunder that would cost you more than an accountancy fee, so you do need to pay attention, but if you've been contracting for several years, you should easily be able to handle the month-to-month stuff and then get an accountant to file the year-end returns if you're not comfortable with those. As you say, FA is "free" through various routes, including Mettle/RBS.

[pr1]

It would cost a few hundred quid to get your year end returns done. Personally, I don't think the standard contractor accountancy packages make much sense in FA. It is extremely easy to manage your payroll, VAT returns etc. I would also say this is essential, especially before CK/Boox has played out. The more control you have, the better. You need to pay attention to filing deadlines and have your calendar set up with all of them. Don't get me wrong, you can make a blunder that would cost you more than an accountancy fee, so you do need to pay attention, but if you've been contracting for several years, you should easily be able to handle the month-to-month stuff and then get an accountant to file the year-end returns if you're not comfortable with those. As you say, FA is "free" through various routes, including Mettle/RBS.

Who do you get to do your year end returns?

[jamesbrown]

Who do you get to do your year end returns?

I do everything myself.

[northernladuk]

Interesting, thanks.

I'm just looking at a list of services offered in the Bronze package here:

https://paperrocketaccounting.com/limitedcompany/

I'm wondering how much of that is pretty much a given when using Free Agent and for anything that arises not on that list, do FA have a support line that can help out, even at additional one-off expense?

I mean, would I be paying just over £ 1.5k a year for what Free Agent already provides out of the box, and that box is free to me as an RBS customer?

Remember you can always speak to your accountant on that package as well so can ask them anything and everything and take up hours of their time a year.
Freeagent is a bookkeeping tool. It doesn't keep abreast of the latest tax changes keeping you efficient, answer any questions about expenses etc, doesn't check your accounts for stuff you missed and is available to chat to you at the dial of a number and so on.

You just have to work out if you are good enough to do it yourself with clever bookkeeping software or you would like the services of a professional on tap 52 weeks (ish) a year. Personally the 1.5k (claimable) is worth it all day long just for convenience.

[jamesbrown]

Remember you can always speak to your accountant on that package as well so can ask them anything and everything and take up hours of their time a year.
Freeagent is a bookkeeping tool. It doesn't keep abreast of the latest tax changes keeping you efficient, answer any questions about expenses etc, doesn't check your accounts for stuff you missed and is available to chat to you at the dial of a number and so on.

You just have to work out if you are good enough to do it yourself with clever bookkeeping software or you would like the services of a professional on tap 52 weeks (ish) a year. Personally the 1.5k (claimable) is worth it all day long just for convenience.

Bear in mind that accountants screw up quite frequently and they typically don't know much about the legislation affecting contracting businesses (never get IR35 reviews from your accountant etc.). I've had some good accountants in the past, but I frequently caught issues or needed to chase things and, again, these were solid accountants with excellent reviews. Most of the cookie cutter accountants are terrible and most of the good accountants turn into bad ones, eventually (InTouch being an excellent example). If you're prepared to be diligent, the risks are the opposite of what you suggest, although definitely *not* for n00bs.

[oliverson]

Remember you can always speak to your accountant on that package as well so can ask them anything and everything and take up hours of their time a year.
Freeagent is a bookkeeping tool. It doesn't keep abreast of the latest tax changes keeping you efficient, answer any questions about expenses etc, doesn't check your accounts for stuff you missed and is available to chat to you at the dial of a number and so on.

You just have to work out if you are good enough to do it yourself with clever bookkeeping software or you would like the services of a professional on tap 52 weeks (ish) a year. Personally the 1.5k (claimable) is worth it all day long just for convenience.

I can definitely relate to that!!

But yeah, you're probably right, I'm really not the kind of person that can be 4rsed with all that stuff, especially at my stage of life.

[northernladuk]

Bear in mind that accountants screw up quite frequently and they typically don't know much about the legislation affecting contracting businesses (never get IR35 reviews from your accountant etc.). I've had some good accountants in the past, but I frequently caught issues or needed to chase things and, again, these were solid accountants with excellent reviews. Most of the cookie cutter accountants are terrible and most of the good accountants turn into bad ones, eventually (InTouch being an excellent example). If you're prepared to be diligent, the risks are the opposite of what you suggest, although definitely *not* for n00bs.

Absolutely. We are still responsible for running our companies at the end of the day and thinking back I've had to make corrections to stuff in the past. Conversely the three month check my accountant offers has caught a number of things I've done wrong e.g. I put postal through so infrequently I keep forgetting it's 0 VAT for example. Trivial example but not the only one by a long chalk so worth it for me even though I do have to spend the time to check the accountants work as well.

But for less than three days billing it's still a worthwhile service for me.

[Maslins]

...Medium sized I'd say Maslins but he has stepped away I think so need to speak to him to understand the situation nowadays...

I'm guessing "he" is Chris Maslin (aka me). The firm became Employee Owned just shy of 3 years ago now, so it's no longer my company. I'm still involved in the background, but people with their fingers far closer to the pulse lead the day to day work. There's currently 5 qualified accountants, and about 10 part qualifieds/trainees in support...so yeah, I guess that makes us "medium sized".

I mean, would I be paying just over £ 1.5k a year for what Free Agent already provides out of the box, and that box is free to me as an RBS customer?

FreeAgent is just the tool, albeit a good one. So it's like comparing paying for photoshop with getting a graphic designer. If you're competent, you can potentially do as good a job DIYing with just the software. But a lot of people aren't comfortable with that, and want an accountant to help ensure everything's done on time, and is accurate/done optimally etc.

[gixxer2021]

I moved to Maslins a while back (from the then SJD), made the move easy and sorted a few things in FreeAgent. Highly recommend both (FreeAgent and Maslins). I do my own VAT returns, etc but they’re there just to check over things and help when required like NL mentioned earlier, so peace of mind.

[Craig@Clarity]

Claire and her tea boy at Clarity Taxation.

She's on the toffee nut coffee now!!