Can you be a sole trader and Ltd...

[smhmotorsport]

I have questioned my accountant over this months bill. I was previously paying a fixed amount as a sole trader and last year I changed to a Ltd co. Now he wasnt very forthcoming with telling me what the extra costs were, so when he told me a few months later the costs had doubled and he hit me with a big bill. I asked why, he said it was because I was trading as a sole trader and a Ltd company. My accountants do my Ltd co secretarial stuff as well as PAYE for myself, but anyone out there know what is a reasonable sum to pay each month?

[Leftie]

I pay about £1000 PA,and I do my won PAYE and VAT. Was about £360 as a sole trader , but they do my CT return and self assessment (for which I pay extra HMRC!) and my turnover has increased 300% since I was a year one sole trader.

There is quite a bit of extra work in complying with the various legal requirements I understand.

[Eric Mc]

Limited companies are at least double the complexity of a similar sized sole trader. Expext a doubling of your fees at the very least.

[sjwb]

Limited companys have to be audited by a level of (chartered?) accountancy beyond that of a sole trader. This I believe is the difference in doubling the cost! Welcome to the club.

Edited by sjwb on Wednesday 16th May 08:49

[david_s]

sjwb said:

Limited companys have to be audited by a level of (chartered?) accountancy beyond that of a sole trader. This I believe is the difference in doubling the cost! Welcome to the club.

Edited by sjwb on Wednesday 16th May 08:49

Limited companies do not need to be audited until their turnover reaches a certain level.

I pay about £1500 for our accountants to prepare statutory accounts from the information I supply (I supply p&l and balance sheet from our accounts package), this amount includes payment for time spent 'negotiating' our corporation tax bill down. I also get billed about £500 per quarter for 'advice' and sundries. ie They phone me to see how things are going and add the cost of their time to my account, they send me a letter reminding me of something and add the cost to my account. I am not happy about the £500 per quarter but am reluctant to fall out with my account over small amounts of money.

We don't yet need to be audited.

[Eric Mc]

Audits are only compulsory for limited companies with turnovers exceeding £5.6 million (there are different rules for charities and plcs). Asa a result, the vast bulk of limited company accounts prepared in the UK are not subject to formal "audits".

The extra cost in looking after companies is therefore nothing to do with "auditing". It relates to the huge additional statutory disclosure and legal bureauocracy suurounding limited company accounts and tax.