Accountancy crisis!!

[nixnewcastle]

Help anyone who can give advice. I've been pretty silly and am coming up to my first years tax return (october) I've still got all my bookings pages so i know what treatments i've done and have kept all my reciepts but haven't really organised them. Im looking for an accountant to do my end year for me but I rang one place and he quoted me £500 which is rediculous as im a tiny tiny business (at one point when i was mobile i would only have an eyebrow wax in a week) Im now in a beauty room though and am starting to get busier and just want to make sure im doing things right. Please help is £500 way too much?

 

[sams.nails]

my accountant charges me £220 im a small business (just me lol), id say £500 is way too much, is there no one else for you to do a price comparison?

 

[cirrusbeauty]

i pay over £500 and i do all my books myself they just check them and put it together!

 

[Trinity]

i pay over £500 and i do all my books myself they just check them and put it together!

If I was you I would shop around, that's madness! :irked:

I do all the work, my accountant checks it and does my tax return on line for £100 +vat. I'm aware that it's very cheap, but I think £500 is a rip off.

If I couldn't find it cheaper I'd do it myself, there are plenty of Geeks on here who do. Revenue & Customs offer free courses and support to do it.

 

[jes]

I've still got all my bookings pages so i know what treatments i've done and have kept all my reciepts but haven't really organised them.

The more work you give an accountant to do the more it's going to cost you. I do hope your not expecting an accountant to extract your annual takings by reading through your booking diary

Have you considered doing it yourself? At the end of the day it is, basically, takings minus expenses

HTH
Jes

 

[Sapphire nails]

Hi,

i know its boring but you must try and organise them, the accountant will charge you on the amount of work he has to do. Here's an easy way to do it:

Seperate you reciepts into months.
get some envelopes small ones is fine.
Then write this in the front in order

Rent £
Stock £
Phone £
" £ (What ever other out goings you have)
" £
" £

Gross income £ ( what you took that month)
-
Outgoing £ (what you paid out)
=
Net Income £ ( what you earned after bills)

This way all your accountant needs to do is the math, instead of the organising and sorting of everything.

This should bring your bill down alot.

Hope this helps

xx

 

[cirrusbeauty]

idealy you should keep i record as you go along so you can put some tax away i always work out what profit there is at the end of each week so i can work out roughtly how much tax to put away then i transfere the money for my tax to my business savings acount so come tax bill time its all there ready.
get a salon accounts book from ellisons, sallys ect its got colums for each day and a space for you to put in your takings and a space to put in your outgoings for the week. then get some plastic sleeves and lable them one for each month and keep all your recipts in the correct wallet for each month so they dont go astray.
i would recommed having a accountant if you come to need a mortagage or credit most companys require certified accounts.
hope that helps!

 

[glitz and glam]

have you thought about gettig a qualified book keeper, mine charges 11.00 per hr. and i also get help and advise through the yr. he does the book once a fortnight. if you are ltd and need to do end of yr he puts it all together then he works alongside a accountant who signs it off. alot less than uve been charged!

 

[SusanEvian]

idealy you should keep i record as you go along so you can put some tax away i always work out what profit there is at the end of each week so i can work out roughtly how much tax to put away then i transfere the money for my tax to my business savings acount so come tax bill time its all there ready.
get a salon accounts book from ellisons, sallys ect its got colums for each day and a space for you to put in your takings and a space to put in your outgoings for the week. then get some plastic sleeves and lable them one for each month and keep all your recipts in the correct wallet for each month so they dont go astray.
i would recommed having a accountant if you come to need a mortagage or credit most companys require certified accounts.
hope that helps!

I agree a lot less than you have been charge too..

You do all this and you are being charged over £500, you said you was small as well. I think you should get a better price.

Su x

 

[hippy-chick]

I pay £50 for my accountant to fill in my tax return and submit it.

I do all my accounts on excel sheets and have all my receipts in month enveloples.

He says its so reasonable because I've done most of the work.

Alternatively, you could pay £500 and have the accountant do everything for you, hand your books and receipts over and get them to do everything.

my accountant is not far from newcastle, pm me.

 

[JellyJane]

All accountants will try and charge you a fortune. I worked at an accountants for 10 years and they will charge you for opening your post!

That is way too much. My hubby had his own courier business and had loads of drivers. I did all the work for the accounts and did the vat myself, like other people have said it's simply income and outgoings. You can get self assessment forms and do it yourself. Ring round and look for one man bands that advertise locally if you don't want to do it. Keep a weekly book or something with your takings and all outgoings and make sure you put down anything to do with the business.

 

[Michelle23]

Hi,

i know its boring but you must try and organise them, the accountant will charge you on the amount of work he has to do. Here's an easy way to do it:

Seperate you reciepts into months.
get some envelopes small ones is fine.
Then write this in the front in order

Rent £
Stock £
Phone £
" £ (What ever other out goings you have)
" £
" £

Gross income £ ( what you took that month)
-
Outgoing £ (what you paid out)
=
Net Income £ ( what you earned after bills)

This way all your accountant needs to do is the math, instead of the organising and sorting of everything.

This should bring your bill down alot.

Hope this helps

xx

hi do you just include business expenses when you're doing your accounts or include other things that you've spent money on like house bills, food, clothes etc?
sorry if thats a stupid question x

 

[user 25559]

Hi Guys

I am qualified to NVQ 2 accountancy, I did the course alongside my nail course so I could understand doing my own books.

I would say in my experience £100 - £150 + VAT is reasonable for a small business. £500 is way too expensive honey so I would look elsewhere.

xx

 

[emda]

I believe that you can claim a proportion of household bills, if you run you office from home, ie design poster ect.

but the i suppose you should be paying buisness rates for your home?

 

[katiebbaby]

Hi there, My husband owns his own charterd accountancy firm in liverpool, and he would say, £100-150 he would charge for small 1 person business, as previous posters say, do all the leg running, and get it cheaper. I really do not agree with all accountants just ripping people off, my husband is known in liverpool for his genuine and down to earth no nonsense attitude, and would never ever charge someone for nothing, he welcomes people to our home many of times and does not charge.......just little rambling soz,,,look for a small family run accountancy firms, sometimes more personal iygwim

kate xx

 

[tingle]

Hi

I panicked the first year I had to do my accounts too. I managed to find an accountant whose philosophy was to keep it simple. I put all my receipts into monthly envelopes and keep a small book with "in" and "out" columns in it,

He then does the rest and it is about £150 + VAT but this is because I have usually done some paid work during the year and have to include my P60 etc. and it just confuses the hell out of me. So I would say yes £500 is way too much.

He is amazing and knows what allowances I can claim aswell which I didnt even know about.

I would shop around. I was lucky and he was the first one who spoke to me face to face (without charging me) and explained how everything works. Now I dont worry about my tax return.

I probably could do it myself but its a lot easier to pay him and not have the hassle. You do have to look around for a good one though.

Lisa

 

[marie111]

I pay £50 for my accountant to fill in my tax return and submit it.

I do all my accounts on excel sheets and have all my receipts in month enveloples.

He says its so reasonable because I've done most of the work.

Alternatively, you could pay £500 and have the accountant do everything for you, hand your books and receipts over and get them to do everything.

my accountant is not far from newcastle, pm me.

He's no longer taking on new clients, I rang him a couple of weeks ago.

 

[tigi]

i work for an accountants one day a week a well as running my own businesses (its a long story).

most accountants will charge you more if they have to organise your work. so, one way to cut down your bills is as others have siad, to get organised.

if you can stay on top of the work on a weekly basis, then its easier to cope with and less scary for you to deal with when its a big mess!

i think 500 is a lot and in our area around 200- 250 is average for tax return and accountancy work and any help claiming tax credit if the accounts are relatively tidy. It pays to shop around though. most accountants also offer a free first meeting and in that meeting they will also happily show you how to keep your accounts tidy.

one word of caution, some accountants say they charge 80 for a tax return and then charge you extras for your accounts, etc etc. this can add up to be a lot of money. when you are quoted prices, try make sure you get an all included price.

tigi
xxx

 

[nixnewcastle]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Im just also stuck with what to do with my car cause i've heard you can add that to the business as well or do it by how much you've spent on petrol or something. Im rubbish at all this hence the reason i was wanting an accountant so they can also advise me

 

[tigi]

you can claim up to 40p per mile with regards to milage. you need to keep a record, date of mileage claimed, how many miles travelled, reason for mileage. you do not need to keep petrol receipts.

you can also claim a percentage of your insurance, tax, and car costs (such as servicing) provided you can demonstrate that you use your car for work. you must also have business insurance on your car too if you are using your car for work.

You may not claim mileage for travelling to and from a fixed place of work (for example I cant cant claim my mileage for going to the salon and home, but i can for when i go to the bank for work, sallys, and clients homes )