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Previously on "Forming company & business bank before choosing an accountant?"

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  • JB3000
    replied
    Originally posted by TryCatch View Post
    I've been doing lots and lots of research into accountants, whether to choose
    - a small one wo/man band local one,
    - or choose big FCSA outfits,
    .
    What is the attraction of having a FCSA accountant? IPSE is generally the badge that most people look out for.

    Leave a comment:


  • Fred Bloggs
    replied
    Originally posted by eek View Post
    +1 and I've just moved to 1st online - however that is because they are cheap, work the way I want to and I explicitly don't need tax advice...
    Exactly, they were just perfect for what I wanted. Can't fault them on that.

    Leave a comment:


  • SueEllen
    replied
    Originally posted by TryCatch View Post
    Thanks NLUK. They use Baur and Cotrell for IR35 checks.. not sure who they use for insurance. But good point, will look at getting quotes for these individually and redoing the maths.

    Insurance wise, the role is pretty low risk (i.e. working mostly from home), so is all of Professional Indemnity insurance (£1million), Employers’ Liability insurance (£10million), Public Liability insurance (£1million) really needed?
    90% of my agencies and clients check I have insurance in place so get it. The price of the insurance will show how low risk you are. QDOS tend to do cheap professional indemnity while Direct Line apparently do cheap public liability. If you need things like business mobiles and laptops insured outside the home then you may want to get a bundle so another provider will be cheaper.

    Also you don't want to do a straight 50-50 share split with your wife. The reason is you want to be the controlling director of the company, plus some agencies are now incorrectly interpreting various finance acts meaning they will not give contracts to contractors who aren't the controlling shareholder of their company. Instead of having to fight it if you are already the controlling director due to having a larger shareholding you can just ignore their incorrect interpretation.

    Leave a comment:


  • BigRed
    replied
    Originally posted by TryCatch View Post
    Insurance wise, the role is pretty low risk (i.e. working mostly from home), so is all of Professional Indemnity insurance (£1million), Employers’ Liability insurance (£10million), Public Liability insurance (£1million) really needed?
    Several of my contracts have specified a level of cover. None have actually checked it is in place. Depends on exactly what you do and where you do it, but it's highly unlikely you will need it which is probably why it's very cheap.

    Leave a comment:


  • northernladuk
    replied
    Originally posted by TryCatch View Post
    Thanks NLUK. They use Baur and Cotrell for IR35 checks.. not sure who they use for insurance. But good point, will look at getting quotes for these individually and redoing the maths.

    Insurance wise, the role is pretty low risk (i.e. working mostly from home), so is all of Professional Indemnity insurance (£1million), Employers’ Liability insurance (£10million), Public Liability insurance (£1million) really needed?
    Ah that's OK then. You probably need PI and Pl as a contractual requirement. Just get it and forget it.

    Leave a comment:


  • MrBrown
    replied
    Originally posted by northernladuk View Post
    IMO get a specialist like QDOS, Baur and Cottrell or other specialists to do your insurance and IR35 checks. They might have done deals the specialists so could be wrong but I'm just not 100% au fait with the accountants organising my business stuff. Maybe a personal thing and there is nothing wrong with it.
    Thanks NLUK. They use Baur and Cotrell for IR35 checks.

    Insurance wise, the role is pretty low risk (i.e. working mostly from home), so is all of Professional Indemnity insurance, Employers’ Liability insurance, Public Liability insurancereally needed?
    Last edited by MrBrown; 15 March 2017, 12:39. Reason: typo

    Leave a comment:


  • northernladuk
    replied
    IMO get a specialist like QDOS, Baur and Cottrell or other specialists to do your insurance and IR35 checks. They might have done deals the specialists so could be wrong but I'm just not 100% au fait with the accountants organising my business stuff. Maybe a personal thing and there is nothing wrong with it.

    Leave a comment:


  • MrBrown
    replied
    Thanks Sue. Spoke to another FA accountant this evening, their advice was to give my wife shares at the start, otherwise HMRC may see it as tax avoidance if done at a later stage. They mentioned splitting shares down the middle starting with 1000 shares (500 each). I assume, these are just arbitrary numbers to measure percentage as opposed to holding any real value in reality.
    Last edited by MrBrown; 15 March 2017, 12:38. Reason: typo

    Leave a comment:


  • SueEllen
    replied
    If you want to give your wife shares as she doesn't work and isn't likely to in future then give her a minor shareholding now. In short you want to be the major shareholder in case of problems later.

    My company shares are valued at a 1p each and I have 100 of them.

    Other people have them set up as £1 each and they have either 10 or 100 of them.

    I personally would get a free agent account as stated here and get them to do everything for you.

    Paying £100 a month may seem a lot but in your first year you need to learn a lot and if you are working at client(s) full time, you need someone who can explain things to you or provides links to info you can read on the bus, train, in the toilet etc.

    Leave a comment:


  • MrBrown
    replied
    Thanks All, stopped me just in time..

    Irt advice. Problem I have is that I've been receiving conflicting advice. Some say, register for vat add the Mrs as a shareholder, others say don't bother with all that.

    I guess your right though.. a mistake at this stage could end up very costly.. so best to pay more for the whole service..

    Time to make a few more calls..
    Last edited by MrBrown; 15 March 2017, 12:37. Reason: typo

    Leave a comment:


  • eek
    replied
    Originally posted by northernladuk View Post
    It doesn't to me. It sounds like you are doing on the cheap rather than starting off properly with full advice and guidance.
    +1 and I've just moved to 1st online - however that is because they are cheap, work the way I want to and I explicitly don't need tax advice...

    Leave a comment:


  • SueEllen
    replied
    Nope.

    Start of with full advice and only when you are clued up change to a cheaper package/accountant.

    Leave a comment:


  • northernladuk
    replied
    It doesn't to me. It sounds like you are doing on the cheap rather than starting off properly with full advice and guidance.

    Leave a comment:


  • MrBrown
    replied
    Thanks for your replies all. It looks like FreeAgent is a must.

    I'm about to sign up to a low cost online only accountant, that sets me up with a company, and potentially a Bank account if I choose to go with Metro Bank, although I may look into others.

    Only thing is that, I wont get a personal service, or be advised on how to make the best of my returns..

    Does this sound like a sensible approach, considering I need to be set up quick?
    Last edited by MrBrown; 15 March 2017, 12:36. Reason: typo

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  • Willapp
    replied
    Another +1 for finding an accountant that uses FreeAgent. I have just started the process of switching from my local accountant to Danbro (who use FreeAgent). I wasn't unhappy with the local chap but he's a bit old school (prefers phone to email, uses Sage so no online access to my accounts), and for the same money I can get one that uses FreeAgent and is, I suspect, a bit more geared towards contractors so will probably offer better advice as well.

    Point being that switching accounts, while not necessarily painful, isn't something you really want to do, so better to pick the right one first time around. Having one that uses FreeAgent is better though because in theory if you want to switch later and the new accountant uses FreeAgent then it should just be a case of porting the account over.

    Leave a comment:

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