Reply to: Accountants - am I missing something?

[cpjames]

Tax liability estimation software

Hi

I think I have a pretty good idea of my tax position and how to estimate it but I would be interested in software that will help estimate it (just to sanity check my own calcs if nothing else)

Could anyone tell me where I can get hold of this type of sw?

Cheers,

Chris

[hgllgh]

Most charge £800+ and give a crap service.

yep ... thats been my experience ... which is why I ditched them

[THEPUMA]

It's pretty common actually.

We don't charge for it on the basis that I can't be bothered.

[blacjac]

I have.

But only as we didn't have 3 years accounts.......

[NotAllThere]

Nope, never been asked for an accountants reference for those.

[vhadiant]

Why would you ask your accountant for references? What does he say, this bloke/lady is great at filling in his/her excel sheets?

Mortgage/credit/visa applications etc.

[xoggoth]

Why would you ask your accountant for references? What does he say, this bloke/lady is great at filling in his/her excel sheets?

[SandyDown]

who charges 35-400 a month

does your current accountant charge your for references ?
can you ask him for an up to date tax position at any time of the year ?
are u vat registered ?

if he does all the following you are getting a good deal

Never had to ask him for references, but am sure he'll do it for a fee or even free!! Do you ask for references on a regular basis?

Why would I want up to date tax position? I mean I can estimate my own tax position, I believe some people here have the software where you download statements and put in expenses and it would estimate tax position - I am thinking of getting the software (been thinking for a while) but honestly who can't roughly estimate their taxes?

As per my previous post, I do my own VAT online, however I use the flat rate VAT, so yes it is a lot simpler - I calculate each month's VAT automatically in a spreadsheet whenever I invoice the client.

A friend of mine recommended her accountant strongly (operating offshore) he is very good in dodging / playing the HMRC, he gaurantees contractors to retain 80% of what they earn... however charges £350 to £400 a month, now that to me negates the 80% income retention gaurantee... right?

[blacjac]

are u vat registered ?

No she's not VAT Registered, she just does her own VAT returns online for a laugh.....

[Iron Condor]

I have a chartered accountant who charges 340+VAT for my Ltd accounts.

But doesnt do any VAT or PAYE for me or my personal tax return either.
He works out of a home office, a side extension on his house, so his costs are very low.

I give him a couple of spread sheets at the end of the year and he does the accounts and prepares the corp tax return. This probably takes him half a day to do!

His service is average, if i had a higher income, and needed to find more ways to reduce my tax liablity (over and above just dividends), i would look for someone better and less afraid of HMRC.

[xoggoth]

Yeh, I've met fellow contractors who say they only pay £400 pa and get a good service, darned if I know where one finds them. Most charge £800+ and give a crap service.

[THEPUMA]

But you're an accountant, right? It's in your interests for people to use accountants. Would you be prepared to guarantee that you could save me at least your fees in tax if I became your customer?

No because theoretically you might be doing everything perfectly correctly. I could guarantee to save you at least 21% of our fees in tax if that's any good?!

You'll have to decide whether or not it's worth a punt.

I'll happily do a tax-based fee if you like (assuming the Institute will let me). ie you show me how you're currently operating and I'll charge you 50% of any tax savings I make in year one as my fee.

Roll up, roll up.

Etc

Offer only applies to people who don't know what they're doing. Or anyone paying themselves national minimum wage.

[NotAllThere]

Surely the £1000 of tax saved only works once*. After that you could just do what the accountant did to save the tax yourself, without the accountancy fees.

* OK, once per change of law that occurs every five minutes...

[malvolio]

But you're an accountant, right? It's in your interests for people to use accountants. Would you be prepared to guarantee that you could save me at least your fees in tax if I became your customer?

It would be a damned poor accountant that didn't cover his own fees IMHO...

[EvilWeevil]

I don't think it's what your accountant does, it's how much tax they can save you that is crucial.

If I were a contractor, I would want to minimise my combined tax plus accountancy fees. The difficulty is establishing who offers this. I guess what I would do is do some research on CUK, ring around a few accountants and ask them about topical issues such as IR35, National Minimum Wage, entrepreneurs' relief, income shifting etc and decide who gave the most convincing answers.

There is no point saving £1000 on accountancy fees if it costs you £2000 in tax.

But you're an accountant, right? It's in your interests for people to use accountants. Would you be prepared to guarantee that you could save me at least your fees in tax if I became your customer?