Not vey impressed with InTouch

[new2c]

I have been with InTouch for nearly an year now and joined them after finding positive recommendations here. But, my experience has with them has been very ordinary.

My PAYE payment to HMRC was not adjusted with the refund due from HMRC and I had a torrid time asking questions about this, this was when I already discussed the refund due with them earlier in the year and I was assured that this will be adjusted against the payment to HMRC at the year end.

Most accountants have facility to generate a PDF payslip for the salary and send it to you by email, but InTouch asked me "Why do you need a payslip, you can just look the payroll data on the portal". Again, after some discussion it was agreed with them the account will mark in her 'diary' to remember sending me the payslip. This was an year ago, but till date I have never received the payslip without me reminding them in the first or second week of each month.

Some accountants suggest that they do not charge their monthly fee or charge a reduced fee if you are out of contract for a certain period, but InTouch do not have such policy and you continue to pay them the monthly fee even if you are not adding any data to the portal or asking for advice when you are on the bench.

Also, on the forum I have noticed some contractors suggesting that one can claim JSA in the periods when you are out contract, again InTouch initially suggested that this is not possible, when I mentioned that I will not draw any salary in those months and will claim JSA, I was told that 'it gets very messy' if you do that.

They claim on their portal that they provide IR35 assessment included in the monthly fee - this is NOT true as till date I am still to have any IR35 advice from them. This is even after asking them.

So, in a nutshell - if you go even a little bit outside the normal regular stuff, just forget about getting proper attention from them. I was told that "They haven't reviewed mycontract as I mentioned that I will get Qdos to review it."

If I am getting a barebone service which just does the bare minimum, I might as well go to Crunch or similar service.

Also, how about using Freeagent on your own without engaging any accountant, a common myth is that you need an accountant to do your year end accounts, is this true?

[SueEllen]

If you are unhappy change accountants there is no need to come on here and moan. There is a sticky with various priced ones.

In regards to relying on a software package it's only as good as the people who develop it.....

[tractor]

....

If you are unhappy change accountants there is no need to come on here and moan. There is a sticky with various priced ones.

In regards to relying on a software package it's only as good as the people who develop it.....

I agree with your statement but in poor hands any tool, however good or bad, can be useless.

The OP should have asked what the policy was during downtime before appointing them. OP signed up for the service and if they didn't know what was in the can should have read the label more closely.

[jamesbrown]

But, my experience has with them has been very ordinary.

It sounds as though you don't have an awful lot of experience, one way or the other.

Some accountants suggest that they do not charge their monthly fee or charge a reduced fee if you are out of contract for a certain period

Why would they do that? You do realise that an accountant splits their fee into 12 monthly installments for your ease of payment? Whether or not you're in contract has very little impact on the amount of time they spend dealing with your accounts over a year (given that the main costs are incurred at year end).

Also, on the forum I have noticed some contractors suggesting that one can claim JSA in the periods when you are out contract

Very odd for a contractor to be claiming JSA, but YMMV.

They claim on their portal that they provide IR35 assessment included in the monthly fee - this is NOT true

Well, it is true, but you shouldn't be relying on your accountant for IR35 advice.

So, in a nutshell - if you go even a little bit outside the normal regular stuff, just forget about getting proper attention from them.

I suspect that, based on some of your comments here, "outside the normal regular staff" probably means "daft stuff".

Also, how about using Freeagent on your own without engaging any accountant

Good luck with that If you're unhappy, there are plenty of other providers. I don't know what you're hoping to achieve by whining in public; you don't anticipate that others will take this as a warning, do you?

[eek]

Also, on the forum I have noticed some contractors suggesting that one can claim JSA in the periods when you are out contract, again InTouch initially suggested that this is not possible, when I mentioned that I will not draw any salary in

Only because technically (and ethically but thats a more personal choice) you shouldn't claim JSA. A contractor is both a company director and salesman as well as a contractor. When you aren't contracting you are selling yourself (the salesman bit).

Yes there are a few people on here who claim to do it but to be frank the opinion of others regarding the people who claim is so low....

[TheFaQQer]

My PAYE payment to HMRC was not adjusted with the refund due from HMRC and I had a torrid time asking questions about this, this was when I already discussed the refund due with them earlier in the year and I was assured that this will be adjusted against the payment to HMRC at the year end.

Strange - InTouch successfully got the £1500 rebate that my previous accountant had failed to do for a few years.

Most accountants have facility to generate a PDF payslip for the salary and send it to you by email, but InTouch asked me "Why do you need a payslip, you can just look the payroll data on the portal". Again, after some discussion it was agreed with them the account will mark in her 'diary' to remember sending me the payslip. This was an year ago, but till date I have never received the payslip without me reminding them in the first or second week of each month.

Why do you need a payslip? And I'd disagree with the use of the word "most" - I've never had an accountant generate one for me every month, although they have done it by request when I've needed one for a mortgage application. If the facility isn't there, then what you ask is an additional manual task that wasn't in the scope of the contract - did you ask at the start and if so what were you told?

Some accountants suggest that they do not charge their monthly fee or charge a reduced fee if you are out of contract for a certain period, but InTouch do not have such policy and you continue to pay them the monthly fee even if you are not adding any data to the portal or asking for advice when you are on the bench.

So your gripe is that they expect you to pay them the fees you agreed to, enabling them to set the fee level appropriately and average it equally across the months? Does the end of year work decrease if you only invoice 8/12 of the year?

Also, on the forum I have noticed some contractors suggesting that one can claim JSA in the periods when you are out contract, again InTouch initially suggested that this is not possible, when I mentioned that I will not draw any salary in those months and will claim JSA, I was told that 'it gets very messy' if you do that.

There is one poster, yes. Are you expecting your accountant to be fully versed in the benefits system as well? FWIW, my previous accountant was of the same opinion, so I claimed nothing in the seven months I had no contract (and was still paying the full price of the service, which was more than double the InTouch charges). Personally, I see it as wrong to be claiming when I'm still working; others don't.

They claim on their portal that they provide IR35 assessment included in the monthly fee - this is NOT true as till date I am still to have any IR35 advice from them. This is even after asking them.

When they reviewed the contract, what did they say?

So, in a nutshell - if you go even a little bit outside the normal regular stuff, just forget about getting proper attention from them. I was told that "They haven't reviewed mycontract as I mentioned that I will get Qdos to review it."

One man's meat is another man's poison - I've found them excellent and they have always provided me with timely advice and answered everything that I've needed them to do. Are they perfect? No. But if you're waiting for perfection then you'll have a long wait. When mistakes have been made, they have always been rectified quickly, accurately, and with no cost to myself - which is all I can ask since I don't expect them to be infallible.

If I am getting a barebone service which just does the bare minimum, I might as well go to Crunch or similar service.

Also, how about using Freeagent on your own without engaging any accountant, a common myth is that you need an accountant to do your year end accounts, is this true?

No, it's not true. Good luck with your new accountant.

[The Spartan]

It makes me when people expect a reduction because of their circumstances, the OP sounds very naive to me and would no doubt get themselves in a worse state using only a basic accounting package.

[SueEllen]

It makes me when people expect a reduction because of their circumstances, the OP sounds very naive to me and would no doubt get themselves in a worse state using only a basic accounting package.

People hear "stories" and don't think about the bigger picture and bother to do their own research.

I get monthly payslips but I get them as a job lot. The accountant use to email them monthly but realised most people didn't use them/ change their salary during the year.

[new2c]

Thanks to all for your comments interlaced with humour and keen sense of looking down upon others. It is a common theme on this forum, so no surprises

Yes, It is a moan and a winge and a gripe and a complaint. And, yes I am not happy. But, I do have some valid points to make.

And, Yes, its daft and naive.

No, I am not asking them to conversant with the benefits system - it's just a conculsion that you have made. What annoyed me was when they said 'it will get very messy', sounded like they don't want to be amending the payroll details and adding P45 details mid way through the year.

I made sure that I point out to them about the HMRC refund and agreed that it will be taken care of at the year end. But this was still left out and I had to point it to them again.


With the JSA thing, fair point about morality, YMMV etc.. etc... I didn't claim anything during downtime but just asked them the question when it was nearly the second month.

Reduced fee during downtime...yes I checked with them before and they don't offer such policy. So fair point again.

IR35 assesment - They claim on their website:

IR35 - contract risk assessment - FREE as part of monthly service

An IR35 contract risk assessment will help contractors better understand their employment status and assess the risk of being deemed as a disguised employee and, therefore, within IR35. We will undertake an IR35 risk assessment for all monthly clients, upon request, as part of your monthly fee and will provide practical suggestions to help you stay on the right side of this issue.

But, I never got them to do this for me, even when I asked.

Forget about, "why would you want your accountant to do that". That's not the point. Its a service they claim to provide, but I didn't get it even when I asked.

[Louisa@InTouch]

We are always saddened if a client is in any way unhappy that the service received by them appears in any way to fall short of expectations.

We have a very transparent approach to clients who have concerns and we welcome addressing the issues raised directly with you.

Please do give us a call and we can go through these in detail.