Accountant- how much?

[n428]

Hi.

Am in the process of registering 2 v. smnall business. One is just myself working- teaching effectively. Have just been paid in cash/ cheque so far but has reccently increased to about 60/70 days per year- and would charge fees of approx £8-9k plus expenses.

Secondly a small business with a friend selling sports bits and pieces- t/o approx 10k.

Having studied a bit of business law at Uni- I know the proceedure of registering companies etc and sole trader/ partnership scenarios but am unsure of what expenditure I can put against tax etc. So would look to see an accountant for some advice- having never used an accountant- any idea how much I would pay for such a service??

Thanks

[Eric Mc]

Most accountants would expect to take on the completion of your Self Assessment tax return on top of the basic accounts preparation and business tax computations.

If the situation was just a small sole-tradership with related accounts and tax computations combined with a relatively straightforward tax return (minimal additional factors - e.g. interest received, some dividends, perhaps a pension contribution claim), then you would be looking at a fee starting around £300 per annum.

In your case you seem to be involved in a partnership as well.

If that is the case, separate partnership accounts would also need to be prepared plus partnership tax computations plus a separate partnership tax return. Your share of partnership income would need to be incorporated in your personal Self Assessment tax return - making your personal tax return more complictaed than it would be if you were only sole trading.

The other partner would also need to complete his/her personal Self Assessment tax return.

I would expect that you might be looking at around £600 at least to cover the whole package.

If you are using a limited company set up - costs will probably exceed £1,000.

Edited by Eric Mc on Wednesday 13th February 16:57

[David Beer]

I have a small LTD company and pay 2k a year, but it does seem rather worth it !

[Gordon Brown]

David Beer said:

I have a small LTD company and pay 2k a year, but it does seem rather worth it !

I pay abour £1400 a year. Invariably the account saves me his fee in areas I would have missed (well he did for the first 3 or 4 years). I was paying about £300 when I was a sole trader.

[spikeyhead]

It makes the £800 a year I pay my accountant to look after my Ltd company and self assessment seem like I get good value for money.

[B19GRR]

Hmmm, as I suspected, I'm getting stiffed! I used to pay about £350 when I was oop north but the guy seriously bolloxed up one year, so I switched to the guy my gf uses who's down in London, who also charges about £350 but then another £150 to fill out the self-assessment form, plus I got an invoice last December for nearly £50 which was apparently for some form of insurance to cover the cost of an audit should that ever happen, not that I got a letter to tell me that's what they wanted the money for On the plus side he seems well on the ball and does a good job of getting my net profit down, but then again my accounts are an absolute doddle and if I wasn't fick [sic] I'd do them myself!

Cheers,
Rob

[Wings]

B19GRR said:

Hmmm, as I suspected, I'm getting stiffed! I used to pay about £350 when I was oop north but the guy seriously bolloxed up one year, so I switched to the guy my gf uses who's down in London, who also charges about £350 but then another £150 to fill out the self-assessment form, plus I got an invoice last December for nearly £50 which was apparently for some form of insurance to cover the cost of an audit should that ever happen, not that I got a letter to tell me that's what they wanted the money for On the plus side he seems well on the ball and does a good job of getting my net profit down, but then again my accounts are an absolute doddle and if I wasn't fick [sic] I'd do them myself!

Cheers,
Rob

Same here, accountant messed up, then said I was lucky to be able to afford a new car, I told him he would be lucky to be paid....he never was.