Setting up a Ltd company - help please

[Mug27]

Hello,

I'm sick of taking home far less than I should via an umbrella so thinking of going Ltd and have a couple of questions that I'm sure you folks will be able to help with:

1. To have a clean start I want to start as a Ltd to tie in with the new tax year in April. I was told that if I register the company now though I'll have to submit my tax returns to tie in with this. Is this true?

2. I went to see an accountant and they were going to try and charge me £250 for set up, £150 for company return, £150 for tax return, £100 for payroll setup and £1000 for the year. Sounded steep to me, any guidance on this please? They also said I should only claim a salary that's below the NI threshold. Isn't this a flag to HMRC straightaway?

3. I know there's some accountancy firms out there who specialise in contractors and it's all done via web and phone. Any good and any recommendations?

Thanks for your time
Mug

[TheFaQQer]

2. I went to see an accountant and they were going to try and charge me £250 for set up, £150 for company return, £150 for tax return, £100 for payroll setup and £1000 for the year. Sounded steep to me, any guidance on this please? They also said I should only claim a salary that's below the NI threshold. Isn't this a flag to HMRC straightaway?

Those charges are kind of what I used to pay my local guy - far too much. You can set up yourself for £15 or so, for example. At the moment, it's marginally more tax efficient to pay yourself the £10k tax free PAYE limit and pay a bit of NI, because there is a £2k NI exemption for the company. A decent accountant will run the figures for you - failing that, there is a spreadsheet in Google Drive that TheCyclingProgrammer put together that does it for you

I use InTouch (if you go with them, tell Louisa I sent you and we get goodies) - but there is a thread about accountant recommendations over in the Accounting forum. I've been very impressed - I'd recommend them even if I didn't get Amazon vouchers for doing so!

[Waldorf]

I'd suggest Nixon Williams - great service and an online option available. I think they have more qualified staff than other so called accountants and not too expensive, £95 per month, covering all that you mentioned, with no start up fees.

[PurpleGorilla]

Those charges are kind of what I used to pay my local guy - far too much. You can set up yourself for £15 or so, for example. At the moment, it's marginally more tax efficient to pay yourself the £10k tax free PAYE limit and pay a bit of NI, because there is a £2k NI exemption for the company. A decent accountant will run the figures for you - failing that, there is a spreadsheet in Google Drive that TheCyclingProgrammer put together that does it for you

I use InTouch (if you go with them, tell Louisa I sent you and we get goodies) - but there is a thread about accountant recommendations over in the Accounting forum. I've been very impressed - I'd recommend them even if I didn't get Amazon vouchers for doing so!

I quite like my local guy, and supporting a local business. Not the cheapest, but for now I'm happy with the arrangement.

[rob s]

I use the cheapAccounting network alongside FreeAgent. Much less than you've quoted.