Doing your own payroll etc instead of an accountant.

[moggy]

Specious arguement. They are responsible for their finances, not Darren. And that includes ensuring payments are made.


Agreed totaly, but I prefer having expert support, especially in a world that keeps changing. And even simple things have gotchas - what, for example, is the VAT treatment of buying lunch for the client's team?

You don't have to know these things, you ask them on the professional forums and NLUK comes along and researches it all for you.

[psychocandy]

Not for me. Don't mind paying accountant as long as they're good (NW are).

Would rather pay someone to do it properly rather than me take twice as long to do it and then still not be sure if its right.

My wife runs business as sole trader. We used to run as partnership and pay accountant to do returns but this year, business has been slow and I didn;t want to shell out £300-£400 when the business only made about £2K profit so decided I;d do it. (and sole trader return is much simpler than partnership return).

Not as easy as I'd hoped and I've spent more time than I'd have liked reading HMRC docs and trying to work it all out. Luckily, got extension till march or I'd be buggered if it had to be in by today!!!!

[northernladuk]

You don't have to know these things, you ask them on the professional forums and NLUK comes along and researches it all for you.

Not quite correct. I point links and previous posts for the OP to do it himself. The quality and accuracy of information in those links is his problem

[simondolan]

Goddamit

Shouldn't you be putting some test laps in or something.....

Not yet - still here......

[BolshieBastard]

Hi,

Just a consideration of mine.
I'd like to hear from contractors who do there own books,payroll, vat returns etc.

How hard is it ? & where can I learn how to do it myself.

I prefer to use my free time for just that, free time and not having to think \ worry about this type of stuff. My accountant does it (although I used to do the VAT returns).

[ratewhore]

Hi,

Just a consideration of mine.
I'd like to hear from contractors who do there own books,payroll, vat returns etc.

How hard is it ? & where can I learn how to do it myself.

I use HMRC Basic Tool for PAYE, very straightforward and also year end forms taken care of within the tool.

I do my quarterly VAT myself manually and it takes less than 5 minutes to work out the figures and file the online VAT return.

I have a spreadsheet for my income v expenditure. A bit like SJD's but simpler. I then send the spreadsheet, bank statements and invoices to my local accountant who does my year end and files the forms.

Job done, not time consuming, easy peasy...

[Waldorf]

Freeagent is the closest you'll get to a full package.

It will provide you with live updated forecasts of amount available for dividends and accruing tax liabilities etc.

The issue with this is that Freeagent allows a dividend to be declared, irrespective of whether the company can afford one. This can mean it is entirely possible that an illegal dividend is declared and you end up with an overdrawn directors loan account - all sorts of issues for HMRC to pick up on.

I use an accountant, I earn enough, so why bother trying to get my head around tax issues. overdrawn directors accounts, VAT, PAYE, it just isn't worth my time.

[philip@wellwoodhoyle]

The issue with this is that Freeagent allows a dividend to be declared, irrespective of whether the company can afford one. This can mean it is entirely possible that an illegal dividend is declared and you end up with an overdrawn directors loan account - all sorts of issues for HMRC to pick up on.

The FAC dashboard gives you a real time figure of the amount you can pay as a dividend. Of course, it doesn't "stop" you from paying too much - how could it? - It doesn't control your bank account. Surely it's not unrealistic to expect the user to look at the figure on FAC and then make his own decision about what to pay.

If you do pay too much dividend, then the system will show negative dividend availability until more profits are earned and then the rolling, live, available dividend figure reflects the excessive dividend paid earlier, so again, if the user checks the figure, they can correct any earlier over-draw.

I don't know of any other software that comes even close to this kind of live reporting which really does help the business owner stay on top of the company finances.

BUT, it's always going to be down to the business owner to look at the figures on the screen and make their own decisions. You can only lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink!

[Ignis Fatuus]

You don't have to know these things, you ask them on the professional forums and NLUK comes along and tells you that you're not cut out to be a contractor.

FTFY