Accountant needed with no minimum term

[Budokan]

Hello,

Just started contracting and will be doing it for six months exactly before going overseas to do something completely different.

Thanks for the great info I've already read!

I'll be charging £300 a day for 130 working days.

I'm almost 100% certain I'll be better off setting up a limited company than going down the Umbrella route (anyone disagree?).

I've now got a limited company, bank account, and professional indemnity insurance.

So - time to appoint an accountant.

As far as I can tell, SJD require you to sign up for a 12 month term @ 110 a month, then another £125 to close the company.

Clear Sky charge £95 a month, with no minimum term, but a whopping £400 to close the company.

I'm looking for a reliable accountant that won't charge me a minimum term (because I only need six months), and won't charge too much to close the company.

Does anyone have any advice, or want to recommend anyone?

Many thanks,

Budokan

[malvolio]

Hello,

Just started contracting and will be doing it for six months exactly before going overseas to do something completely different.

Thanks for the great info I've already read!

I'll be charging £300 a day for 130 working days.

I'm almost 100% certain I'll be better off setting up a limited company than going down the Umbrella route (anyone disagree?).

I've now got a limited company, bank account, and professional indemnity insurance.

So - time to appoint an accountant.

As far as I can tell, SJD require you to sign up for a 12 month term @ 110 a month, then another £125 to close the company.

Clear Sky charge £95 a month, with no minimum term, but a whopping £400 to close the company.

I'm looking for a reliable accountant that won't charge me a minimum term (because I only need six months), and won't charge too much to close the company.

Does anyone have any advice, or want to recommend anyone?

Many thanks,

Budokan

Your accounts cover a year, it's kinda how the system works. So your accountant effectively needs to do a year's work. Which is why they mostly charge annual fees. Funny that. You could try a local firm, but be very sure they understand your business properly.

And your gross income for the contract is £39,000. Is £400 really too much to get most of that £39k into your own bank account, safely and legally?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

If you are inside IR35 you wouldn't necessarily be better off through Ltd for a one off 6 month contract

[Clare@InTouch]

You could look into an annual service rather than a monthly one, which could work out cheaper if you keep all your records in good order. Call a few accountants to see what type of package they can offer for VAT, payroll and final accounts.

Get the contract reviewed from an IR35 point of view too. Even if you're inside of IR35 you could still be better off thanks to the 5% administration allowance and the VAT flat rate scheme. Most accountants can offer a comparison service before sign up so you can see the exact amount you stand to gain under a Limited - you can then decide whether the extra money is worth the professional fees, or whether you'd be better off brolly.

[Waldorf]

If you are inside IR35 you wouldn't necessarily be better off through Ltd for a one off 6 month contract

Not a fan of umbrella's but if you only want it for a few months and are then buggering off abroad, I think an umbrella would be worth looking at.

[d000hg]

And your gross income for the contract is £39,000. Is £400 really too much to get most of that £39k into your own bank account, safely and legally?

This is a silly argument. You owe it to your business to find the most cost-effective solution, not to throw cash away because "it's only a few hundred quid".

[Danielsjdaccountancy]

Hello,

Just started contracting and will be doing it for six months exactly before going overseas to do something completely different.

Thanks for the great info I've already read!

I'll be charging £300 a day for 130 working days.

I'm most[/I] 100% certain I'll be better off setting up a limited company than going down the Umbrella route (anyone disagree?).

I've now got a limited company, bank account, and professional indemnity insurance.

So - time to appoint an accountant.

As far as I can tell, SJD require you to sign up for a 12 month term @ 110 a month, then another £125 to close the company.

Clear Sky charge £95 a month, with no minimum term, but a whopping £400 to close the company.

I'm looking for a reliable accountant that won't charge me a minimum term (because I only need six months), and won't charge too much to close the company.

Does anyone have any advice, or want to recommend anyone?

Many thanks,

Budokan

Hi,

We don't require a client to sign up for 12 months; we have no tie in fees.

We charge a monthly fee of £110+VAT and the client is only tied into the months they pay, so free to leave at any point.

We do however charge a minimum of 12 months fees for a set of accounts. There are reasons behind this as well

1) Its stops someone joining for 1 month, having their accounts, self-assessment, CT600's, P11D's etc all being filed and then moving on having only paid £110+VAT.

2) 6 months of trade is the same amount of work as producing a set for 12 months.

3) Our current clients who stay with us every month pay 12 months fees, so it is only fair they pay the same as someone requiring the same amount of work and are only with us for 1 month.

4) Normally clients who have not been with us for the 12 months, have not used the SJD bookkeeping spreadsheet or let us administer the payroll and VAT, make mistakes on their own records, so actually it takes longer to produce a set of accounts than for our standard clients.

I hope this helps to give you an understanding why we charge as much for 'one-off' fees as if you had been a client for 12 months.

[malvolio]

This is a silly argument. You owe it to your business to find the most cost-effective solution, not to throw cash away because "it's only a few hundred quid".

Fine. Perhaps you should research "cost-effective". Poor accountants are very expensive. Good ones are free.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Most accountants are looking to build long-term relationships with their clients so 6 months is unlikely to interest us at all. There is a lot of work involved in the setting up and the closing down of a company which can often be written off (and generally is) through the monthly fee over a number of years. Realistically for six months, it would be appropriate to charge say:

Set up* £200
Monthly X 6 £600
Closing down* £200
Total £1,000

*neither of these would be charged under normal circumstances. But in your case I would say it would be.

Another option would be to set everything up yourself and get an accountant to do a year end for you (fees are starting iro £400 IIRC). You'd still need to wind everything up yourself but its pretty straightforward.

[d000hg]

Fine. Perhaps you should research "cost-effective". Poor accountants are very expensive. Good ones are free.

Are you being deliberately obtuse? Did I suggest looking for a cheapo, crappy accountant? No. You are a fool not to encourage shopping around for the cheapest provider of a good service, just as with any other purchase. Saying "it's only £400" is ludicrous if you can get the exact same service for £300.