Accountants and Insurance

**Sockpuppet** · 10 May 2007, 20:10

1. Yes.

2. You still have to "do" payroll even if you dont pay any NIC.

3. Probably. A search could reveal more.

4. No. Wtf do you think the mileage rate your claiming covers? MagicTrees?

**cartlidgea** · 10 May 2007, 20:15

Cheers SockPuppet

Short but sweet

Do you think receiving a take home of £2750 from a monthly pay of £3300 or Annual pay of £39000 and expenses of £800 a month £9600 a year is a good/reasonable/lower then average take home from my own limited company using an accountant? This figure includes the £1300 accountant fees

Cheers

p.s so I can claim for the magic trees then? :->

**Sockpuppet** · 10 May 2007, 22:06

You have to somehow put the magic trees down as testing or product development.

83% is a good take home. Have no idea is £800 expenses is good. You ARE incurring £800 of legitimate business expenses aren't you.

**cartlidgea** · 10 May 2007, 22:16

Definitely legitimate expenses Subsistence, milage, parking etc. And I assume and hope I can claim back the £500 I will have to spend on IR35, PI, PL and EL insurance. All honest expenses no magic trees in site...

With your yes answer to my first question about paying too much for my accountant or that the £750 service wont cover everything which was it yes to mate, both? How much do you pay..... I am thinking it is worth paying more to use a local accountant and stay out of the MSC arguement

Cheers

**philip@wellwoodhoyle** · 11 May 2007, 09:46

Originally posted by cartlidgea

With your yes answer to my first question about paying too much for my accountant or that the £750 service wont cover everything which was it yes to mate, both? How much do you pay..... I am thinking it is worth paying more to use a local accountant and stay out of the MSC arguement

It is the price that varies between accountancy firms, not the type of services. Shop around and you will get the same services for less cost, just like you'll get the same services for more cost. Most contractor accounting packages cover payroll as part of the monthly fee - £50 per month for just one employee is taking the proverbial! You can buy payroll software for £50 per year, or you could use HMRC's own CD system for free.

**kingshuk** · 11 May 2007, 10:26

My accountant wants to charge me 1300 a year ....but I assume this is because they dont do as much for you?

1300 Sounds too high. Can't imagine what special accounting services they are offering you.

2/Part of the reason it is so high is the payroll side I am being charged £50 a month for them to calculate my PAYE/NIC. This is because they want me to pay myself a salary which is over the minimum wage / allowance so that I pay a small amount of PAYE and NIC to keep the taxman happy. Is it worth me paying myself only just over minimum wage/ my allowance so that no NIC/PAYE is needed hence I save £50 a month.

This had been discussed many times here. To see how some of the esteemed members of this forum rationally and charmingly discussed the various options and reached a conclusion on this follow the thread - http://forums.contractoruk.com/thread15020.html

**rootsnall** · 11 May 2007, 10:50

Lots and lots of threads on here naming the usual accountant suspects, they charge 50-70 a month and provide a vanilla service to handle IT contractors which is all you need. There is very little in the way of creative ( and legal ) accounting that will save you much tax or NI so I wouldn't pay extra for it.

**malvolio** · 11 May 2007, 11:34

Originally posted by kingshuk

1300 Sounds too high. Can't imagine what special accounting services they are offering you.

This had been discussed many times here. To see how some of the esteemed members of this forum rationally and charmingly discussed the various options and reached a conclusion on this follow the thread - http://forums.contractoruk.com/thread15020.html

Perhaps tempers got a bit frayed but the essential message of that thread was that you can pay £5k, NMW or "real" salary, depending on your conscience andn eeds without breaking any rules at all, and some more conservative accountants suggest NMW merely because future rules affecting small companies may be based on that as the cut off point. Sadly, some people cannot accept that there may be more than one truth and insist that only theirs applies.

What the forum as a whole is agreed on is that people trying to extract more than the rules allow for are either deluded or taking the michael, and will get slapped down.

**chicane** · 11 May 2007, 12:10

Originally posted by cartlidgea

4/I have my own limited company and claim milage expenses I recently had to have my car tracked and 2 new tyres on the front can I claim this back on expenses?Thanks

My understanding from discussion with my accountant is that there are two possible scenarios:

1) The company pays a lower rate (e.g. 10p) per mile for the use of the car, and the company pays for all expenses relating to the running of the car (e.g. insurance, servicing, new tyres, magic trees etc)

2) The company pays a higher rate (e.g. 40p) per mile for the use of the car, but may not pay for any other expenses relating to the car as described above.

The usual warnings apply about myself not being an accountant and this not being solid advice. Speak to your own accountant to get the full picture.

Accountants and Insurance