Boox - accountants any feedback?

[craigy1874]

For a start 'going limited' is a terrible term.

How on earth does 'going limited' suggest anything other than a tax dodge. You are setting up your own business to trade as a limited company. Maybe I am just being pedantic but I really cannot stand that term.

Secondly, the recent 'complaint' doesn't seem that fair and I think the problem stems from this 'monthly fee'. As far as I am concerned, being an accountant, the fee is an annual fee, payable in monthly instalments. Monthly fees do give the indication that if there is no activity in that month, there should be no fee. If this is the case then great, but if not, then people have to stop advertising monthly fees.

There is still a certain amount of work involved in dealing with a limited company and not a massive amount of difference to a set of financial accounts if the company has 6 months trade compare to 12.

I also don't like 'dedicated accountants' and feel that anyone of a senior level should be able to deal with any particular client, but maybe that's just me...

[Chart Accountancy]

I am writing this honest review because I am sick at the way in I have been financially exploited by BOOX accounting and my trust in BOOX advice has been abused to the benefit of BOOX.

I write also for the purpose of warning anyone, who like myself, is a healthcare professional turned independent service provider, to avoid BOOX accounting specifically, but also to avoid this particular category of accountancy service provider in general with their over priced monthly fees, of which BOOX is but one particularly obnoxious example. (My advice is to seek out a reputable accountancy firm yourself. You'll probably find that you'll get a comparable service at a fraction of the price, once you look at what you shell out over the course of a year).

Here's my story:
I was approached by a representative from BOOX through my work as a longterm agency contract worker in 2015 I was initially happy with the arrangement to follow the instructions of my "dedicated" accountant and the BOOX app. It was not until I entered a strange period of no work and no income that I started to notice that the advice from BOOX was not always sound, as follows:
1. I became aware for the first time that I didn't need to be VAT registered, but I was paying BOOX for the VAT related services they said they needed to do a total of £11.00 per month plus VAT. The problem with this is that I was only registered for VAT because my dedicated accountant had presented it to me as a means of making extra income. At no point did the individual tell me that intact VAT is just about collecting and passing on tax money on behalf of the inland revenue. The dedicated accountant never told me at the time he got me to agree on the basis of his misleading and inappropriate advice that BOOX would be charging me for the privilege of collecting government taxes. So BOOX bags an extra £139.00 over 12 months added to their already hefty accountancy app fees. This is dishonest. This lacks transparency. It's just crooked. Avoid them.
2. Since December 2016 and this year I have experienced a situation in which incomes via the company have vanished, nevertheless BOOX accounting saw fit to continue to apply a full charge (£110.00 every month) for 5 months. During this time BOOX earned £550.00 in charges from me. In that same time my dedicated accountant insisted that as I was not earning anything I could be paid £0.00 (even though I still was doing work to build up my company) and on top of this I was not even given permission, according to the BOOX app to claim my expenses. When I pointed out that BOOX accounting app had authorised their fee of £110.00 each month, which was an expense, they informed me that this was a valid expense, for which they could go into my company funds to recuperate. However the other expenses could not be recuperated until I had income returned. So between December 2016 and May 2017, BOOX got paid from my company account £550.00 and I got paid £0.00 salary and £0.00 expenses. I have since learned that this advice is just wrong, but hey-ho- it paid BOOX.
3. BOOX are now telling me that despite making £0.00 since December 2016, despite having been paid £0.00 in salary and expenses this year, that I have made a profit and that I have to pay a tax bill of several hundreds of pounds !!!
This gives you a flavour of these people. I do not trust BOOX. I have seen that they are self serving and they exploit the ignorance of professionals who are too busy working to know that they are being charged through the nose for a mediocre and self serving set up.
I can only pray that they disappear under the weight of their own iniquitous practises.

I often see clients that come to me from some of the well known contractor accounting firms with comments that they are not happy because they are not receiving enough guidance from their dedicated accountant if their circumstances do change. The reason is that many of these firms concentrate on marketing and increasing their client portfolio of clients in a fixed type of service. If anything is out of the box, often the dedicated accountant is not experienced to advise which is where all goes wrong.

[yMyjgT]

1. I became aware for the first time that I didn't need to be VAT registered, but I was paying BOOX for the VAT related services they said they needed to do

So....did you originally ask/agree to setup VAT, and later decide you didn't want that?

The problem with this is that I was only registered for VAT because my dedicated accountant had presented it to me as a means of making extra income.

I'm guessing this is the flat rate scheme, and the small amount of difference in the VAT you charge, and what is transferred to HMRC? It's not a means of making extra income, just a side benefit of the simplicity of the flat rate scheme.

At no point did the individual tell me that intact VAT is just about collecting and passing on tax money on behalf of the inland revenue.

I guess there's a certain amount of very basic knowledge assumed by an accountant. What did you think VAT was? I'm assuming you've setup a Limited company? Did you not at least Google what VAT was?

2. Since December 2016 and this year I have experienced a situation in which incomes via the company have vanished, nevertheless BOOX accounting saw fit to continue to apply a full charge (£110.00 every month) for 5 months.

The accounting responsibilities and their annual charge don't just disappear when your company ceases to make "sales".

they exploit the ignorance of professionals who are too busy working to know that they are being charged

I think if you're that busy, maybe you should seriously reconsider the responsibilities that you have as (again, assuming) a company director.
From what you've said, I'm not sure you've gone down the right path here.

I have to say, I find it hard to find time to keep up sometimes, but that's not my accountants fault.

[NAnagor]

Don't touch BOOX with a barge poll. Find a reputable accountant who won't rip you off

I am writing this honest review because I am sick at the way in I have been financially exploited by BOOX accounting and my trust in BOOX advice has been abused to the benefit of BOOX.

I write also for the purpose of warning anyone, who like myself, is a healthcare professional turned independent service provider, to avoid BOOX accounting specifically, but also to avoid this particular category of accountancy service provider in general with their over priced monthly fees, of which BOOX is but one particularly obnoxious example. (My advice is to seek out a reputable accountancy firm yourself. You'll probably find that you'll get a comparable service at a fraction of the price, once you look at what you shell out over the course of a year).

Here's my story:
I was approached by a representative from BOOX through my work as a longterm agency contract worker in 2015 I was initially happy with the arrangement to follow the instructions of my "dedicated" accountant and the BOOX app. It was not until I entered a strange period of no work and no income that I started to notice that the advice from BOOX was not always sound, as follows:
1. I became aware for the first time that I didn't need to be VAT registered, but I was paying BOOX for the VAT related services they said they needed to do a total of £11.00 per month plus VAT. The problem with this is that I was only registered for VAT because my dedicated accountant had presented it to me as a means of making extra income. At no point did the individual tell me that intact VAT is just about collecting and passing on tax money on behalf of the inland revenue. The dedicated accountant never told me at the time he got me to agree on the basis of his misleading and inappropriate advice that BOOX would be charging me for the privilege of collecting government taxes. So BOOX bags an extra £139.00 over 12 months added to their already hefty accountancy app fees. This is dishonest. This lacks transparency. It's just crooked. Avoid them.
2. Since December 2016 and this year I have experienced a situation in which incomes via the company have vanished, nevertheless BOOX accounting saw fit to continue to apply a full charge (£110.00 every month) for 5 months. During this time BOOX earned £550.00 in charges from me. In that same time my dedicated accountant insisted that as I was not earning anything I could be paid £0.00 (even though I still was doing work to build up my company) and on top of this I was not even given permission, according to the BOOX app to claim my expenses. When I pointed out that BOOX accounting app had authorised their fee of £110.00 each month, which was an expense, they informed me that this was a valid expense, for which they could go into my company funds to recuperate. However the other expenses could not be recuperated until I had income returned. So between December 2016 and May 2017, BOOX got paid from my company account £550.00 and I got paid £0.00 salary and £0.00 expenses. I have since learned that this advice is just wrong, but hey-ho- it paid BOOX.
3. BOOX are now telling me that despite making £0.00 since December 2016, despite having been paid £0.00 in salary and expenses this year, that I have made a profit and that I have to pay a tax bill of several hundreds of pounds !!!
This gives you a flavour of these people. I do not trust BOOX. I have seen that they are self serving and they exploit the ignorance of professionals who are too busy working to know that they are being charged through the nose for a mediocre and self serving set up.
I can only pray that they disappear under the weight of their own iniquitous practises.

Wife's agency has recommended Boox for her accounts and to go limited.

Any one have any feedback on Boox?



Thanks

[northernladuk]

Ooops - sorry Alan.

Don't be sorry!! He called your lower price that is aimed at a different market so not like for like... Stick it to him back! Go for the throat!! DO IT!!!

[Matt at Boox]

£99 inc vat. Good try though :-)

Ooops - sorry Alan.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

£99 inc vat. Good try though :-)

[Matt at Boox]

Hi All,

In fairness of balance, it’d be prudent of me to point out that the vast majority of our current client base are more than happy with our service here at Boox. Here’s all our current independent reviews on TrustPilot: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.boox.co.uk

Pile 'em high sell 'em cheap mob I'd say. Very difficult to provide good customer service for £50 a month IMO.

Whilst some of our services are priced at what you could consider a ‘lower end’ in terms of price, these services are aimed more at freelancers who are more experienced in handling their finances and accounts. This particular service level does not include access to an accountant, VAT advice nor the filing year end accounts - all of which are optional add ons.

Our current ‘Essential’ package, priced at £79 + VAT per month, is more aligned to the standard industry pricing amongst accountants who combine software with access to a dedicated point of contact, a similar service by the look of things to the one provided by Broome Affinity at £99 + VAT (although we don’t include the director’s tax return within our fee).

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Pile 'em high sell 'em cheap mob I'd say. Very difficult to provide good customer service for £50 a month IMO.

[northernladuk]

Some of it might be a bit old but anything useful here?
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bo...DqJoTSU-_ZptgD

[TykeMerc]

Never heard of them, the obvious question to ask is what's the agencies kickback?
Of course there's the sensible question of if the rate and work justifies a HerCo Ltd.

There have been loads of threads about good accountancies and the usual answer is that the usual suspects named are good, reliable, competent and fair value for money.

[Scrag Meister]

Wife's agency has recommended Boox for her accounts and to go limited.

Any one have any feedback on Boox?



Thanks