Payroll for single director (contractor)

[NCOTBAC]

Well that suggests that it's not a massive undertaking, unless you're caught in a trap of inefficiency and headaches you cant escape from

Not really. SMc puts a lot of time and effort into doing his research be it his skill set, Web pages and accounts. He is most definitely not a newbie thinking is something is easy without knowing anything about it.

SMc doing his own accounts isn't really a useful bit of advice for the OP as it give him the impression it's easy. At worst the OP should get an accountant for a full year to look over his shoulder and then he can go it alone if he wants.

[chomps]

You should get an accountant, but you don't need one. I have been doing it myself for 8 years now

Well that suggests that it's not a massive undertaking, unless you're caught in a trap of inefficiency and headaches you cant escape from

[kaiser78]

You should get an accountant, but you don't need one. I have been doing it myself for 8 years now

He says posting from behind bars !

[SimonMac]

Depends, how good are you at reading guides, grasping it, and generally spending time to get all this sorted ? There are few on this forum who do it themselves and would say once you get grips of it, it is fairly straightforward.

Though majority over here will recommend getting an accountant.

[SimonMac]

No it's not. It might look like it when you get a couple of straightforward question answered and you think you are good to go but what about the raft of other stuff you don't know to ask about? Running your accounts by asking questions on a free forums is bound to end in tears.

You need to get yourself an accountant. They arent a lot and there is a recommendation thread to help you find one.

You should get an accountant, but you don't need one. I have been doing it myself for 8 years now

[NCOTBAC]

Roughly how much would you expect to pay for an accountant?

Around 85+vat or there abouts which will include a Freeagent subscription.

[chomps]

No it's not. It might look like it when you get a couple of straightforward question answered and you think you are good to go but what about the raft of other stuff you don't know to ask about? Running your accounts by asking questions on a free forums is bound to end in tears.

You need to get yourself an accountant. They arent a lot and there is a recommendation thread to help you find one.

Roughly how much would you expect to pay for an accountant?

[jbond007]

2. Is the accounting for this fairly simple arrangement straight forward enough to do myself, without having to hire an accountant or use software?

Depends, how good are you at reading guides, grasping it, and generally spending time to get all this sorted ? There are few on this forum who do it themselves and would say once you get grips of it, it is fairly straightforward.

Though majority over here will recommend getting an accountant.

[NCOTBAC]

2. Is the accounting for this fairly simple arrangement straight forward enough to do myself, without having to hire an accountant or use software?

No it's not. It might look like it when you get a couple of straightforward question answered and you think you are good to go but what about the raft of other stuff you don't know to ask about? Running your accounts by asking questions on a free forums is bound to end in tears.

You need to get yourself an accountant. They arent a lot and there is a recommendation thread to help you find one.

[SuperLooper]

https://www.freeagent.com/

[chomps]

I've set up a limited company to contract through and expect to work no more than a single contract for the entire tax year, paying myself up to my tax free limit then dividends thereafter. I have a few questions:

1. Does it matter when i actually pay myself a salary and dividends? I'm thinking of paying myself a salary lump sum every quarter, and dividends perhaps every 6 months so that i'm not constantly generating payslips.

2. Is the accounting for this fairly simple arrangement straight forward enough to do myself, without having to hire an accountant or use software?

I started using wave, however it doesnt actually have payroll for UK customers and it's not actually that good, so just started recording income and expenses on an excel sheet - rudimentary, but at least i know that it will work!