I have been running a ltd co contractor company for almost 15 years, but like many the upcoming IR35 changes and the impact of Coronavirus are making me look at either inside IR35 contracts or even FTCs over the coming months and into next year.
I have enough retained profits in the company that an MVL would be suitable, but I also at the back of my mind think that there are still chances of outside IR35 contracts popping up in the future, so I don't really want to be excluded from having my ltd co to go back to if inside contracts and FTCs don't quite become the norm next year.
Ideally I'd like to just make the company dormant with HMRC, but in order to prevent my retained profits being eaten away by inflation too much I'd want to keep those profits in a fixed rate savings bond, and that means annual interest payments. They in turn prevent me from using the dormant status and filing dormant accounts myself (without an accountant involved).
I've discussed the options with my current accountant and they can offer a half price "dormancy" service (where the company is not trading, but is not dormant in the true sense of the word). They will prepare and file accounts (that contain nothing but accountancy fees and interest payments), the CT600 and the confirmation statement for me for a fee of around £650.
I'm wondering if I'd be able to avoid this charge by DIYing the accounts in this specific and (I believe) simple circumstance. I wouldn't normally consider this as I am happy to pay for a professional in this area, but since the incoming values in this scenario would be one interest payment per year and 0 expenses (the company has no other complications) I feel that I could very likely just use the HMRC's online filing tool to submit the accounts and CT600. I don't have any problem filing my confirmation statements myself.
Am I missing something really obvious here though, I mean I could pay an accountant a one-off fee to just file the accounts but most of the accountants I've asked about this (admittedly the contractor accountants) say that the fee paid monthly over the year is largely the cost of the annual accounts preparation and submission, so their prices don't drop beyond what I've been offered. I am at the point where I may start looking toward more regular accountants and away from the contractor specialists and just asking for PAYG annual accounts preparations.
For such a simple case though, I really feel that I should be able to DIY the company tax return, or is this going to be much more complicated than it appears and circa £600 is a fair price for the knowledge and effort involved?
I have enough retained profits in the company that an MVL would be suitable, but I also at the back of my mind think that there are still chances of outside IR35 contracts popping up in the future, so I don't really want to be excluded from having my ltd co to go back to if inside contracts and FTCs don't quite become the norm next year.
Ideally I'd like to just make the company dormant with HMRC, but in order to prevent my retained profits being eaten away by inflation too much I'd want to keep those profits in a fixed rate savings bond, and that means annual interest payments. They in turn prevent me from using the dormant status and filing dormant accounts myself (without an accountant involved).
I've discussed the options with my current accountant and they can offer a half price "dormancy" service (where the company is not trading, but is not dormant in the true sense of the word). They will prepare and file accounts (that contain nothing but accountancy fees and interest payments), the CT600 and the confirmation statement for me for a fee of around £650.
I'm wondering if I'd be able to avoid this charge by DIYing the accounts in this specific and (I believe) simple circumstance. I wouldn't normally consider this as I am happy to pay for a professional in this area, but since the incoming values in this scenario would be one interest payment per year and 0 expenses (the company has no other complications) I feel that I could very likely just use the HMRC's online filing tool to submit the accounts and CT600. I don't have any problem filing my confirmation statements myself.
Am I missing something really obvious here though, I mean I could pay an accountant a one-off fee to just file the accounts but most of the accountants I've asked about this (admittedly the contractor accountants) say that the fee paid monthly over the year is largely the cost of the annual accounts preparation and submission, so their prices don't drop beyond what I've been offered. I am at the point where I may start looking toward more regular accountants and away from the contractor specialists and just asking for PAYG annual accounts preparations.
For such a simple case though, I really feel that I should be able to DIY the company tax return, or is this going to be much more complicated than it appears and circa £600 is a fair price for the knowledge and effort involved?
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