Is doing your own payroll easy?

[Willapp]

So I currently pay a local accountant to look after my business accountancy which covers all the usual things: year end accounts, self-assessment and payroll. I do my own VAT submissions though.

Being a local company they don't have an online portal so a few months back I signed up to FreeAgent to basically give me visibility over my accounts which I find really useful.

My dilemma is that from this position I could do my own payroll via FreeAgent, something which my accountant currently charges me £60+VAT per month for (my wife takes a small salary and the accountant charges £30+VAT per employee). So at the moment I stand to pay £864 a year in payroll which seems like an awful lot given that its a fixed monthly amount and I doubt it takes much of their time.

FreeAgent costs me £30 per month and has the capability of doing payroll so in some respects it feels like I'm paying twice for this and only getting half the benefit. However there is the underlying concern that maybe payroll is more complex than I think so is it worth paying £800+ for the "peace of mind" that the accountant is doing this, or am I daft not to do it myself? Does anyone run their own payroll and find it easy to manage? Do you use FreeAgent for this and are there things to be wary of?

Just looking for a consensus really on how many of you handle payroll personally versus letting your accountant do it, and is my accountant overcharging me for a fairly simple task? Bear in mind I pay extra for the annual accounts and self-assessment so the above is not an all-inclusive fee it's just payroll.

Thanks.

[northernladuk]

Get a better accountant?

[ContrataxLtd]

So I currently pay a local accountant to look after my business accountancy which covers all the usual things: year end accounts, self-assessment and payroll. I do my own VAT submissions though.

Being a local company they don't have an online portal so a few months back I signed up to FreeAgent to basically give me visibility over my accounts which I find really useful.

My dilemma is that from this position I could do my own payroll via FreeAgent, something which my accountant currently charges me £60+VAT per month for (my wife takes a small salary and the accountant charges £30+VAT per employee). So at the moment I stand to pay £864 a year in payroll which seems like an awful lot given that its a fixed monthly amount and I doubt it takes much of their time.

FreeAgent costs me £30 per month and has the capability of doing payroll so in some respects it feels like I'm paying twice for this and only getting half the benefit. However there is the underlying concern that maybe payroll is more complex than I think so is it worth paying £800+ for the "peace of mind" that the accountant is doing this, or am I daft not to do it myself? Does anyone run their own payroll and find it easy to manage? Do you use FreeAgent for this and are there things to be wary of?

Just looking for a consensus really on how many of you handle payroll personally versus letting your accountant do it, and is my accountant overcharging me for a fairly simple task? Bear in mind I pay extra for the annual accounts and self-assessment so the above is not an all-inclusive fee it's just payroll.

Thanks.

Hi Willapp

Sounds like you are paying a fair bit for the payroll side of things, we only charge £85+VAT per month for an all inclusive service (pretty much covers everything you've mentioned) which includes a Freeagent subscription too!

The payroll in Freeagent is alright, you should be fine doing this yourself for you & your wife's salary.

Martin
Contratax Ltd

[gables]

I do my own payroll using Brightpay and find it very easy, so much easier than the old days when I had to use Tables A etc

[ContrataxLtd]

I do my own payroll using Brightpay and find it very easy, so much easier than the old days when I had to use Tables A etc

We use Brightpay here as a our payroll software so I'll give it another recommendation too. Very easy to use and very well priced!

Martin
Contratax Ltd

[TykeMerc]

It's not difficult doing stuff like your own payroll especially if it's fixed, to be fair none of the accountancy type stuff is hard to do when it's standard and uncomplicated.
That being said I get the accountants to do mine (in their monthly fee) as I can't be bothered with it and I'm very happy with their end to end service of a bit over £100 a month all in.

In your shoes I'd be looking for a new accountant and there are loads of good ones around with excellent reputations.

[VectraMan]

No, but I will be. There's plenty of software, including HMRC's I believe. I was going to try Payroo which is online and free.

[Willapp]

Hi Willapp

Sounds like you are paying a fair bit for the payroll side of things, we only charge £85+VAT per month for an all inclusive service (pretty much covers everything you've mentioned) which includes a Freeagent subscription too!

The payroll in Freeagent is alright, you should be fine doing this yourself for you & your wife's salary.

Martin
Contratax Ltd

Ok so follow up question: how easy is it to change accountants? Is it best to do it at company year end or does it not really matter? Far as I know all my paperwork is up to date. Just wondering if it's a matter of a few phone calls or lots of time spent back and forth dealing with paperwork etc.

[ContrataxLtd]

Ok so follow up question: how easy is it to change accountants? Is it best to do it at company year end or does it not really matter? Far as I know all my paperwork is up to date. Just wondering if it's a matter of a few phone calls or lots of time spent back and forth dealing with paperwork etc.

Normally it's just a couple of phone calls, especially given the fact that you are using Freeagent and all the information is kept up to date in there. Appoint a new accountant and dis-engage the old one, giving them permission to pass over any details to the new accountant accountant as they request.

In most cases it should be a very smooth process indeed.

Martin
Contratax Ltd

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

My wife does the payroll. It's as easy as setting it up once, checking each at the beginning of each year, submitting once a month and doing the final submission once a year.

The only real way you can mess it up is to forget to submit the RTI submission before you get paid (if you've set up a standing order) in which case it's treated as late.

If you're wife is already paid a small salary, presumably for admin, then get her to do it!