Should I have signed up to PAYE

[Wanderer]

Thanks for all the help. Looks like I'm looking for an accountant

If you are keen to do most of it yourself then you may be able to find someone who will do fixed price work for you so you can just pay to get some advice on setting up from them and get everything up and running. You will need to come back to them at the end of the company's year and get them to sort out the year end stuff and your self assessment etc.

Although going down the DIY route may seem cheaper initially, when you come to do the year end accounts you get hit with a big fee and suddenly you find that 12 x the monthly fee charged by some of the accountants wouldn't have been so bad after all.

The nice thing about paying an accountant monthly is that they are on a retainer so you can ask them for advice any time. They should also prevent you making costly mistakes in the running of your company, paying too much tax or getting fined for late/non delivery of the paperwork that is required.

[rmmc]

I've just started a new one man Ltd company. I will be paying myself approx £600 p/m salary and the rest in dividends. Therefore i will not be paying any tax only a small amount of NI. I originally thought you HAD to sign up for PAYE, but reading several posts on here it seems you don't have to.
Will this draw unwanted attention from HMRC and not help with falling outside IR35?

Thanks

With this level of salary you must register for PAYE and pay paye & Nic monthly / quarterly to HMRC. You also require to file employers return P35 at end of the year.

You may need to file the P11D, depending on expenses reimbursed by your company to you and receiving any benefits.

[jamesc77]

Thanks for all the help. Looks like I'm looking for an accountant

[Clippy]

You have been given some good, solid advice from Sue Ellen to get an accountant so do yourself a favour and act on it - it makes no odds to a bunch of strangers on an internet forum whether you do or don't as when HMRC come around, it'll be your door they knock on.

From your other posts it's clear you don't have a grasp of all that is involved in being a contractor and an internet forum will only get you so far if you are new to this which you clearly are.

Once you have got an accountant, by all means, supplement his advice with what you read on here.

BTW, you are not going to get that much help from forum members with the (slight) attitude you have displayed to date - I'd also suggest you thank the people in a couple of your recent threads where they have directly answered your questions - not only is it good manners but that is what being part of a community is all about.

[northernladuk]

I have possibly made one mirror error, I do not think that amounts to "clearly don't know what i'm doing"
If everyone got an accountant, what would be the point of these forums. I'm seeking advice as I believe I have made an error. Why get an accountant if someone on here can answer the question for free?

Because accountancy can be very complex, particularly at company and personal tax year ends. The is also the aspect of what DON'T you know that you are not asking. You have a responsibility as a director of a company to get it right and if you don't it can end very very badly, partuclarly if you piss the tax man off. For £1200 (claim against your tax ofc) a year you get peace of mind + they may even save you a bob or two..

Oh yeah, and although it is free on here we get tired of answering peoples lazy questions because they do not want to get an accountant.

[Gonzo]

I have possibly made one mirror error, I do not think that amounts to "clearly don't know what i'm doing"

Are you sure that it is just the one mirror [SIC] error?

Are there possibly many more that you haven't realised yet?

Even after a couple of years, once I knew what I was doing, I was always happy to pay an accountant who was big enough and ugly enough to handle the (albeit unlikely) event that HMRC started delving into my affairs.

[Taxless]

I do have to agree with SueEllen on the accountant point, although I also have to declare a vested interest.

Once you have been going for a while and assuming your affairs are fairly straight forward, then fine, try to do it yourself.

Until then, why not invest in an accountant and see what you might learn. They should be able to demonstrate value for money and lots more now offer fixed fees, so no surprises.

For HMRC's take on when you need to register for PAYE, see here :

HM Revenue & Customs: Register as an employer

[SueEllen]

I have possibly made one mirror error, I do not think that amounts to "clearly don't know what i'm doing"
If everyone got an accountant, what would be the point of these forums. I'm seeking advice as I believe I have made an error. Why get an accountant if someone on here can answer the question for free?

Have you looked on the HMRC site? Can you tell me what expenses you are allowed to off-set against your business?

An accountant does far more than just PAYE and your end of year accounts.

As part of their continual professional training/development they have to keep up to date with the complex regulations and laws that HMRC enforce, and how they should be interpreted.

That means if you ask them a question on whether you are allowed or not to claim a business expense or what is the best way to pay for something they will be able to give you an answer. This becomes more important if you have things like wanting to contribute to a pension or have statutory paternity/maternity or child care vouchers you can claim.

BTW most of them throw in doing your PAYE, calculation of your VAT returns, your self-assessment, and answering your questions on allowable expenses as well as your company returns for their fee.

[jamesc77]

As you clearly don't know what you are doing get yourself an accountant immediately.

If you don't know anyone who will recommend an accountant use to dealing with service type businesses then use the search facility on here to see who people are saying good things about.

It's worth the money not to do things wrong and get in trouble with HMRC.

I have possibly made one mirror error, I do not think that amounts to "clearly don't know what i'm doing"
If everyone got an accountant, what would be the point of these forums. I'm seeking advice as I believe I have made an error. Why get an accountant if someone on here can answer the question for free?

[SueEllen]

As you clearly don't know what you are doing get yourself an accountant immediately.

If you don't know anyone who will recommend an accountant use to dealing with service type businesses then use the search facility on here to see who people are saying good things about.

It's worth the money not to do things wrong and get in trouble with HMRC.

[jamesc77]

I've just started a new one man Ltd company. I will be paying myself approx £600 p/m salary and the rest in dividends. Therefore i will not be paying any tax only a small amount of NI. I originally thought you HAD to sign up for PAYE, but reading several posts on here it seems you don't have to.
Will this draw unwanted attention from HMRC and not help with falling outside IR35?

Thanks