Accountant Problems

[psychocandy]

Yep bang on the money. It was my first year contracting and I was utterly dismayed but unsure.

NW claimed I had to put it on a separate email and not just on my invoice email. Shame that nugget was left out until after several months of trading.

And you didnt understand the concept of tax brackets?

[psychocandy]

We do ask that clients advise us when they declare a dividend, mainly so that we can record the fact but also so that we can issue the correct paperwork for them.

There is no requirement to send a separate email, declaration of a dividend can be advised by phone, email or by post.

Alan

Must admit I agree with Alan here.

OP - how did you declare a dividend without letting your accountant know about it? Surely the plan is to just let them know you're plans and let them do the paperwork? That way you dont need to specifically tell them why £5K has gone missing from your business account.

So this missing dividend? did you or accountant do proper paperwork (board minutes/tax vouchers) for it?

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Would have been cheaper to pay for an accountant to do it properly.....

I wont try because I'll get it wrong and NLUK will neg me again but can anyone give details of how much extra tax is paid by using purely dividends as opposed to PAYE of £7000 and dividends for the rest? (Assuming lower tax rate for all of this).

£1,400 per annum, so significant.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

No apologist for NW

However, it does seem in this case that the OP is being unreasonable in her expectations from an accountant. Yes, we have to do lots of hand-holding in the early stages. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. The OP needs to accept a degree of responsibility. From what I hear, NW are an excellent firm. Perhaps they have cocked up a bit here but they've certainly tried to resolve things straight away.

And guys, airing your dirty washing in public is unseemly. One of you pick up the phone, ffs.

[SueEllen]

And guys, airing your dirty washing in public is unseemly. One of you pick up the phone, ffs.

You all have the right to defend yourselves.

[Wanderer]

1. Although we do review bank statements to check that we have copies of receipts, we cannot easily do this with payments of dividends, which is why we do request that you notify us if you declare a dividend. Simply writing ‘dividend’ on a bank statement does not indicate to us whether it is a fresh dividend or an already declared dividend that a client has decided to pay late. If we were simply to ‘create’ a dividend for each entry on a bank statement, it is highly likely that the client’s accounts would end up very muddled. I hope that you can understand our reasons for this.

I don't know if your client is paying you for a book keeping service but I feel that reconciling the companies books against the bank statement is an absolutely fundamental task of a book keeper.

Every penny of every single payment into and out of my companies bank accountant is reconciled against my accounting spreadsheet every month (not just at the end of the year) so profits and dividends can be calculated. If this is done correctly then the balance on the bank statement exactly matches the balance shown in the company's books. If the balances don't match then the book keeper should be seeking an explanation of the unexplained transaction so it can be properly entered into the company accounts. Simply shrugging and saying, "I don't know what that transaction was so I'll ignore it" or blaming the client for not notifying them of the transaction in the "right" way isn't helpful. It causes unnecessary stress and potentially costs the client money in tax that they could have avoided paying.

The other point is that a large number of contractors who are potentially higher rate tax payers should be clearly advised when they were approaching the limit of salary/dividends that will put them into the higher rate tax band so they can engage in some tax planning if that is their desire. I don't think a good accountant should let the client blindly stray into the higher rate tax band without warning them first and giving them a final reminder just before they hit the higher rate tax.

[psychocandy]

To be fair, this is the way NW run their service and their totally up front about that.

[psychocandy]

£1,400 per annum, so significant.

Worth getting an accountant now Kitty Cat? I think I was right - it would have been cheaper to get an accountant who hopefully would have advised you to pay yourself a salary of £7K and thus, saved yourself £1400 in tax.

BTW. This year my accountant will cost me £1080...

[Danielsjdaccountancy]

There is a definite theme on the forum at the moment around accountancy fees.

If you are happy looking after yourself, running your own finances, that you can save as much tax as possible even with the annual budget announcements and change in tax bands every year, then yes cheaper and less personal firms are your option but you’ll have to put more work in.

However, if you do need comfort, hand holding, direction, a personal accountant who you can build a relationship with and helps you to understand your business then you will need to look at the more ‘expensive’ ones.

I can say that thankfully all contractors are different, some I speak to daily, want to build that relationship and understand their business, others are maybe too busy concentrating on their contracts and want an easy life, they often email me as and when they need my help.

In my mind your fees are as ‘expensive’ as you make them.

[Mister Clark]

BTW. This year my accountant will cost me £1080 in profits.....

Do what Rodders?