Account engagement letter- Filing vs Prepare VAT

[7of9]

Hi All,

I am a new contractor and I have recently signed up with my accountant. He told me that the only thing his service is not included is personal tax return. Everything else is taken care of by him.

Today I got an email from his company asking me to Filing Quarterly VAT Returns and PAYE/NIC payments online by myself.
I have since gone back to the engagement letter and found out the word they used for VAT return is ‘prepare’ not filing.

Does 'prepare' mean they caculate the amount and you have to file it yourself?

Does that mean that I need file everything(VAT , PAYE, company house Annual return etc) myself? So why the accountant told me that I only need do my personal tax?

Do you all file VAT returns etc online youself?



Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Clare@InTouch]

Some accountants will prepare the return for you and ask you to file it yourself, and some will file the return online for you.

The PAYE payments are just that - payments. You will have to do these yourself as your accountant cannot make payments from your company account for you. He should though prepare and file your year end returns for you.

It's highly unlikely that you will be asked to file your own accounts, especially when it becomes compulsory to file via iXbrl. The engagement letter will probably include preparation and filing with HMRC and Companies House.

[craig1]

One thing to note if you intend to do online transactions with HMRC such as VAT filing: if you don't have a Government Gateway username/password, get one sorted now! It'll take 1-3 weeks to get it done depending on the turnaround speed this month and they'll be very unsympathetic if you go to file at the end of a quarter and can't do so.

Edit: A business one, not a personal one!

[RichardCranium]

I am a new contractor and I have recently signed up with my accountant. He told me that the only thing his service is not included is personal tax return.

In that case you will have to pay for your personal tax return out of your own pocket, not your LtdCo's bank account.

Ditch that accountant and get one that does the filing for you and your personal tax return is included.

[7of9]

Thank you all for your reply.

I am really shocked to find out I have to do so much filing after the accountant promised me that I only need to do my personal tax return and everything else will be taken care of by his company.

At the moment I was told not only I need to do my VAT filing , but also I need to do make NIL declaration online by myself. I don’t understand whether I need to file one or not. I am not taking salary until next April.

This is what my accountant said to me
"If you do not have any PAYE or NIC payments due in a quarter, then you must file a NIL return, and you can do this by submitting a NIL declaration online.

Please note that the PAYE/NIC is due by the 19th of the month of the quarter end. "

A stupid question: Is 19th of the quarter end 19th of this month? I hope not, as they only told me today

[7of9]

Some accountants will prepare the return for you and ask you to file it yourself, and some will file the return online for you.

The PAYE payments are just that - payments. You will have to do these yourself as your accountant cannot make payments from your company account for you. He should though prepare and file your year end returns for you.

It's highly unlikely that you will be asked to file your own accounts, especially when it becomes compulsory to file via iXbrl. The engagement letter will probably include preparation and filing with HMRC and Companies House.

Thanks for the reply Clare. Actually one of my friends' accountant does his PAYE/NIC for him. You need make payment for VAT as well. If you use this argument, then in theory everyone has to do their VAT return themselves as well.

[7of9]

In that case you will have to pay for your personal tax return out of your own pocket, not your LtdCo's bank account.

Ditch that accountant and get one that does the filing for you and your personal tax return is included.

I actually got in touch with many accountancy firms including all the ones recommended in the forum. My current accountant made the best impression. That is why I went with them.

However I called SJD and Nixon W today. The sales people on the phone said yes when I asked whether they would file VAT return for me. But to be honest, I am not sure they understand what I was asking for. All they said was yes, yes, yes, just switch to us, we would do everything for you.

[SueEllen]

I actually got in touch with many accountancy firms including all the ones recommended in the forum. My current accountant made the best impression. That is why I went with them.

However I called SJD and Nixon W today. The sales people on the phone said yes when I asked whether they would file VAT return for me. But to be honest, I am not sure they understand what I was asking for. All they said was yes, yes, yes, just switch to us, we would do everything for you.

All businesses want new business so they will do their best to make a good impression.

Anyway calculating and filing VAT and filing PAYE is trivial and not hard to do yourself at all. It's also a good way of forcing you to keep an eye on the books and what your accountant is up to. (I know some people not contractors who have had crooked accountants.)

However your accountant should do your self-assessment return as they are really simple to do for an accountant for the vast majority of people.

[craig1]

Thank you all for your reply.

I am really shocked to find out I have to do so much filing after the accountant promised me that I only need to do my personal tax return and everything else will be taken care of by his company.

At the moment I was told not only I need to do my VAT filing , but also I need to do make NIL declaration online by myself. I don’t understand whether I need to file one or not. I am not taking salary until next April.

This is what my accountant said to me
"If you do not have any PAYE or NIC payments due in a quarter, then you must file a NIL return, and you can do this by submitting a NIL declaration online.

Please note that the PAYE/NIC is due by the 19th of the month of the quarter end. "

A stupid question: Is 19th of the quarter end 19th of this month? I hope not, as they only told me today

If you've got a VAT registration, you need to file returns even if you've spent/invoiced nothing in the quarter. Takes less than 1 minute to do a nil return: log in, type 0 into all the boxes and hit send. You can delegate it to an accountant but it's your company's legal responsibility.

Again, make sure you get a HMRC online account and link it to VAT. https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/ Make sure you give yourself plenty of time!

Also, if you're unsure of your filing date and the accountant is proving unreliable, you can call the VAT people, they're very helpful, probably the most helpful of all the government helldesks. 0845 010 9000.

[7of9]

If you've got a VAT registration, you need to file returns even if you've spent/invoiced nothing in the quarter. Takes less than 1 minute to do a nil return: log in, type 0 into all the boxes and hit send. You can delegate it to an accountant but it's your company's legal responsibility.

Again, make sure you get a HMRC online account and link it to VAT. https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/ Make sure you give yourself plenty of time!

Also, if you're unsure of your filing date and the accountant is proving unreliable, you can call the VAT people, they're very helpful, probably the most helpful of all the government helldesks. 0845 010 9000.

Thanks a lot craig.