accounting

[helenic]

Nine months after I should have started them, I have finally got stuck into my accounts for the tax year 06-07. It is a bit late, but not stupidly late, as I'm doing the self-assessment thing rather than getting them to calculate it for me, and I don't necessarily need them to collect tax through my tax code. So I'm pretty sure I've got until 31st January. The reason it is a bit late is that I don't actually intend to do the self-assessment thing, I intend to give my accounts to an accountant and pay them to work out how much I owe and what I can claim. My dad recommended a firm earlier this year - he uses them for clergy tax returns, but I said I was self-employed and asked if they could help me and they said yes. I spoke to a pleasant accountant called Kaye a couple of times on the phone about what I needed to give to her, and was going to call her back next once I had it ready. Yesterday, I was ready to do this - until I realised that I had only saved her phone number in my old phone, which has died, and doesn't boot for long enough to load the address book even with a different sim and battery in it. I can't get the number off my dad again as he's in the middle of moving house and is very unlikely to have access to it. And she was in Leicester in any case, so actually if I could find someone in London that would probably be better.

So! Can anyone recommend me an accountant? I've budgeted £100-£150 for fees. I have records of my income and expenditure and a certain amount of receipts, but my record-keeping was not as meticulous last year as it has been since, so there are some gaps, although I think I've been able to fill most of them from memory. I'm struggling a bit to make it balance, though, even before I start trying to work out tax; if I could find someone willing to sit down with my spreadsheet and my bank statements and make it add up first, that would be even better.

I do definitely want a proper accountant to work it out and sign it for me if possible, because I really don't have a head for this kind of thing and the stakes are kind of high if you get it wrong. I also have no idea what I can validly claim as expenses - I've heard lots of different theories from various qualified people, so don't add your own - but basically if I can get someone with some sort of authority to sign it off I would feel much happier, because I've never done this before. Hopefully that's still possible? (I'm looking at the hrmc website now and getting the fear that I actually should have submitted all this by 30th September, but I suspect I'm just being paranoid.)

Comments

Sandcroft

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

I can't stand doing taxes, so I pay Sandcroft Management Services to do it. They're based in Sawston (somewhat south of Cambridge) but do things over the phone and by email if you like. I think they prefer it, it's easier than scheduling their time for a specific appointment. They do tax and accounts for a lot of sole traders around Cambridge. The guy I speak to there is called Billy Wilson, he's fairly friendly. They charge me in the 60-70 quid range for my simple tax return, so I think they'll fit in your budget (especially if you have all the docs together so they just need to plug the numbers into the right place). They file electronically so you can do it through them right up to the 31st.

Re: Sandcroft

[libellum.livejournal.com]

Oooh, this sounds very plausible. Thanks a lot for the recommendation :)

[penguin-worship.livejournal.com]

My ex, russell (who you may have met at Joff's gig/my birthday?) has a company to do this. I think his normal rate is arround £125, but if you contact him and mention that you are a friend of mine he might do a discount.

http://pfs.companyworks.co.uk/default.asp

for his website

also has some useful general info on tax returns.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! It looks like I might be able to find somewhere cheaper, but if not this is a good second option. The information is helpful, too, although some of it is also very frightening, such as this:

"if your total tax and NI is more than £500, you have to make payments on account. In short, you are paying for the following year's estimated tax in advance, on the assumption that it is the same as the current year. You have to make 2 payments on accounts, one by the 31st January 2005 (along with the tax for the year), and one by 31st July 2005. Each payment is half the tax for the previous year.

For example, your total tax and NI for the year to 5th April 2007 works out to be £1,000. You therefore have to pay:

£ 1,500 by 31st January 2008
£ 500 by 31st July 2008."

Argh! If this is right, suddenly I need to find half again as much money by 31/01/08 as I thought I did :/

[chrisvenus]

Not really answering any of the questions in there usefully but I can say that yes, you do have til 31st January. 30th September is the date by which you can submit less stuff and have them work out all the numbers.

Personally I do my self assessments online. You can register and they send you a password by post and this takes about a week or maybe more depending on how busy they are. It then asks you nice simple questions, hides all the irrelevant bits and does all the maths for you.

If you do get this sort of thing wrong then I am told that the maximum fine is equal to what you owe or something like that. That is if you do it wrong and tell them you owe 100 quid less than you think then when they find out they will take 200 quid. Not 100% sure this is accurate but makes getting it wrong a bit less scary.

Lastly when I registered as self employed I was offered a workshop run by my local tax office where they went through stuff on how to be self employed. It was a half day thing and basically covered what you were going to need to put in your return and therefore what records to keep. I mention this because it will probably make clear what you can claim on expenses. I suspect unless you have a vastly bigger income than I expect that you won't have to do a complicated breakdown of expenses. In general though what you can claim for expenses is anything you bought for work purposes. This can include travel expenses (eg if I go to a meeting in london I can claim for the travel costs), any materials you use (eg I could claim for notepads that I use to write work notes). Pretty much though you will want to try to work out all the stuff you've spent money on and that is an expense. :)

It might be worth talking to your tax office though and see if they can help you with a course. Didn't take up too much time and was pretty useful.

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, I can recommend you an accountant. On the other hand, they will be unlikely to be in the price-range you are looking for. These are both firms I worked for in London, and both have higly competent tax departments:

Artiaus Ltd - contact Robin Berry (one of th ccounting partners - say Damian Higgins sent you) on 01438 847 117 (actually in Stevenage, but the main office is in NW1

Nyman Libson Paul - at a guess, try Robert Paul (who is one of the tax partners, but should remember me) on 020 7433 2400. If he's not around, try Joel Weitzmann on the same number.

Once again, I can't promise they'll come anywhere near your price range.

I can't really volunterr myself, because it's a while since I last did a tax return, so wouldn't want to promise something I couldn't deliver.

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Re deadlines, as long as you are willing to work out the tax yourself, rather than getting HMRC to do it for you, you should be clear until 31 Jan.

[olithered.livejournal.com]

If you do it online the website does the "working out" for you, right up to the end of Jan.

[mr_magicfingers]

I need to do this to. Self assessment forms aren't difficult, I use to do my own every year when I worked offshore, as I had to keep detailed records of days in and out of the country.

The big thing you want an accountant for, as I see it, is finding all the things you can claim for when you're self employed, and that's what the tax office never seem to want to give you much information on.

Might have to follow this thread as I need someone to tell me what I can claim for the past year.

x

[djlongfella.livejournal.com]

It's late and I've just come back fromj a very cold outdoor lighting job, so please forgive the " bluntness " of my reply/ coment. But please take it as offered advice.

Hrm Sorta strictly speaking, yes you shoulda got your self assesment form done in sept, but no big worry.

Re Jan 31'st that is the date you have to have paid your tax bill by.

Pay an accountant, consider it an insurance policy against those nasty tax people asking you questions, at least with an accountant you can fend them off i that direction.

My accountant has very good rates, and charges about 400 quid to do end of year accounts, and about 50 quid per quarter to do my VAT accounts. So your budget of 150 is perhaps a little low.

With view to doing your own..DONT ! End of.

You should be able to send a decent accountant all your receipts, invoicess and bills in shoe box and let them do the rest, of course without a ledger sheet, it will cost a little more as tehy will have to do all the mundane " date sorting " and the like and will charge you by the hour.

Please, what ever decision you make, trust me on this YOU CAN NOT BURY YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND with this one.

But I'm sure you know that already...

x

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Apologies for the equal bluntness of the response, but I'm an accountant, and you're wrong.

The dealines from HMRC are here (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/keydates/keydates.htm#comp30dec02). The deadline is 31 Jan 2008, providing you are calculating and paying your own tax.

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

The rest of your advice is sound, though, especially re the Ostrich Option. HMRC are more helpful than people often assume for those who are making a genuine effort to get things done, but they understandably have no time at all for people who ignore it all then cry Mea Culpa eight months later. The Inland Revenue as was have been doing this job for 300 years, so they've heard pretty much every excuse going...

[djlongfella.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the correction...

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

No problem - the oceans of nervous sweat currently pouring ff my ex-colleagues in Norfolk is testimony of the impending deadline.

And as I said, the rest of your advice is sound.

[djlongfella.livejournal.com]

Ha not as much as the Oceans of sweat flooding through my life wondering how much my end of year Bill will be...:)

Norfolk ? That where my accountants are based.. ironic.

Oh the joys of being self employed...

[glittergirly.livejournal.com]

Russell is an MAAT qualified accountant. I'm not sure how much work he's got on at the recording studio at the mo, but it may be worth dropping him an email see if there's nything he can do.

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[glittergirly.livejournal.com]

russell.kedwell@hotmail.co.uk

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