Accountant proposes to change company address to its own

[eek]

Rubbish. You can't judge an entire industry by the actions of one man. Also having the address registered at Uptons wasn't the problem, it was the fact people were paying him, not HMRC direct.
Completely different.

The risk you mess up your own accounts by not understanding or getting the mailings is much much greater than Uptons happening to you again.

I don't think this a the most reponsible approach you can take to your business affairs.

+1 I do however think we need to look at what happened to Bagpuss and see what we need to do to ensure that we (as directors with final responsibility) everything is done correctly and what is reported is what we expected to be reported.

[Bagpuss]

I paid the HMRC and the electronic filing system let him carry out the fraud, previously I would have had to sign some paperwork. This is why I would urge anyone to sign up to the online services so they can check their accounts.

Anyway, I would not have the accountant as the registered office, it is YOUR responsibility if returns are not made on time Aside from fraud how many times have we heard "my accountant didnt do this on time, my accountant neglected to do this"? It's much easier if YOU can see what is due and when. It's not like you will get much mail anyway. Your choice at the end of the day.

Oh and googling accountant and fraud bring up many, many hits, now PAYE is moving over to electronic, I (and accounting web) expect there will be more cases.

[Clare@InTouch]

I would echo what Bagpuss says - sign up to HMRC online and keep an eye on things yourself. The PAYE system is currently pretty worthless, but the ones for CT and SATR are great. You'll be able to see what's due, what's paid, what's refunded etc as well as when documents are filed.

Having the registered office with your accountant shouldn't matter - HMRC should write to the trading address (you) anyway, so all you'll miss out on are the annual return & accounts reminders. You can view these online at Companies House anyway.