Spec me an accountant

drakioned · 24 Apr 2024 at 17:46

I almost certainly messed up a self assessment last year and would like some professional help to fix it and not to stuff it up this year.

Anybody have a good accountant for self assessment that don't want to charge £500+VAT?

Cheers in advance

slinxy · 24 Apr 2024 at 18:51

Self assessment are their bread and butter, my niece does all of her families. They will have the software to whip it up in no time, unless yours is super complexed. Any local account should be able to help.

booyaka · 24 Apr 2024 at 18:55

Not sure how you mess up Self Assessment - it's pretty straight forward and there plenty of guides from HMRC to help out.

To be honest - most accountants don't really want a simple SA as there is very little money in it and probably more hassle than it's worth.

Last time I had SA done it was around £250 + VAT but that was about 8 years ago. I still SA but have Ltd company accounts as well now with accountant.

drakioned · 27 Apr 2024 at 09:36

booyaka said:
Not sure how you mess up Self Assessment - it's pretty straight forward and there plenty of guides from HMRC to help out.

Pension taper problems.

But also, two different accountants have told me to find somebody else, and the one that is confident they can help want £500+VAT...

booyaka · 27 Apr 2024 at 11:02

drakioned said:
Pension taper problems.

But also, two different accountants have told me to find somebody else, and the one that is confident they can help want £500+VAT...

Pretty much what I said - accoutants really don't want small once a year jobs....It's not cost effective/profit making to take on 100 clients at £300 all just wanting SA at the same time of the year. Hence why your getting told they don't want it.

Then at the other end - "ok, we'll do it but we want £500 + VAT"

I guess it's really just a case of whether you are "saving" yourself the time and hassle for £500 + vat.......

Same in lots of markets/areas at the moment - Plumbers / Sparkies etc etc - no one wants the "small" jobs as they simply aren't cost effective/profit making. I know even in my business I turned away a potential client this week as they simply aren't going to be "worth" it to the business long term.... They will cost me more in time / paperwork / hours spent than I will get back in fees.... It's just a harsh reality of the business world these days.

weringo · 27 Apr 2024 at 11:30

Anything less than £500 probably isn't going to be worth anyone's time.

HMRC can be quite helpful if you call them, or there's a bunch of forums where you could get some help.

slinxy · 27 Apr 2024 at 12:04

I don’t understand why they just don’t get the office junior to do it and for a senior member of staff just to check them over. They should have the IT systems to bang in the numbers and they just need to transfer them over to the gov system or print them out so you can.

When I was looking at getting a car on lease or HP… my nephew in law just whipped out his laptop and banged in the numbers to see what method was the cheapest.

The days of writing numbers into a ledger and using a calculator are long over. Most people’s taxes ain’t that hard. It’s not like they are running two side businesses at home, having a full time job, renting out properties, getting income from capital gains and have taxable interest like my nephew..

drakioned · 27 Apr 2024 at 17:04

it would be better if the pension companies just talked to the government directly and just deduct whatever. All of this stuff is submitted to HMRC anyway.

One More Solo · 27 Apr 2024 at 17:20

slinxy said:
I don’t understand why they just don’t get the office junior to do it and for a senior member of staff just to check them over. They should have the IT systems to bang in the numbers and they just need to transfer them over to the gov system or print them out so you can.

When I was looking at getting a car on lease or HP… my nephew in law just whipped out his laptop and banged in the numbers to see what method was the cheapest.

The days of writing numbers into a ledger and using a calculator are long over. Most people’s taxes ain’t that hard. It’s not like they are running two side businesses at home, having a full time job, renting out properties, getting income from capital gains and have taxable interest like my nephew..

Like all these things, there’s a lot of faff involved before you get to the point of the office junior whacking in the numbers, and you have to price in your client being a total muppet if you’re quoting a fixed fee. £500 might sound a lot but once you’ve factored in all your overheads and wages, it doesn’t go far.

slinxy · 27 Apr 2024 at 17:23

drakioned said:
it would be better if the pension companies just talked to the government directly and just deduct whatever. All of this stuff is submitted to HMRC anyway.

when/if they get the centralised pension system setup, this may be possible....

[FnG]magnolia · 28 Apr 2024 at 13:56

Heya fellas, what on earth is that sweet stuff @Kenai over THERE!

Kenai · 28 Apr 2024 at 14:15

[FnG]magnolia said:
Heya fellas, what on earth is that sweet stuff @Kenai over THERE!

I don't know why you're tagging me, i'm not a tax accountant

EvilRob · 28 Apr 2024 at 15:31

I don't mind spending the time to learn what I need to each year for SA. All those accountancy fees add up over the years. I don't think it's ever taken me more than a few hours and you would have to spend most of that time anyway to prepare the inputs an accountant would need from you. Not surprised at all it would be £500 or so for an accountant.

Jimmeh · 28 Apr 2024 at 15:50

I haven’t used the service myself, but for something as straight forward as a Self Assessment, it’s worth checking out https://taxscouts.com/

[FnG]magnolia · 28 Apr 2024 at 21:33

Kenai said:
I don't know why you're tagging me, i'm not a tax accountant

Apologies. What I meant to say was (checks notes) ...

@Pudney

e: although I bet you are some sweet stuff Kenai, holy moly
e2: kemek, who is also an accountant doesn't seem to register as a user. Farewell sir.

Hellsmk2 · 28 Apr 2024 at 21:48

I've done my own self assessment for the past decade, but this year I used an accountant recommended to me from a colleague.

They went through my past couple of years of details and ended up claiming for a few things I didn't know about. I ended up getting a decent amount back from HMRC. I won't be doing my own again as it was stress free.

Contact: [email protected]

drakioned · 28 Apr 2024 at 21:49

Hellsmk2 said:
I've done my own self assessment for the past decade, but this year I used an accountant recommended to me from a colleague.

They went through my past couple of years of details and ended up claiming for a few things I didn't know about. I ended up getting a decent amount back from HMRC. I won't be doing my own again as it was stress free.

Contact: [email protected]

how much did they cost?

ilc72 · 28 Apr 2024 at 22:00

drakioned said:
Pension taper problems.

But also, two different accountants have told me to find somebody else, and the one that is confident they can help want £500+VAT...

If it’s pension related you may be better with a tax specialist, but if it’s a PAYE from an employer it should be handled at source. The only area if you are drawing a pension already and limitations of future contributions. Pensions are not just the preserve of accountants, a good independent financial adviser.

If it’s your own business, then you have a lot of flexibility especially if you haven’t used full contributions in previous years. Even if you are employed, then speak to pensions to see if you can make increased contributions as a one-off or monthly. Finally, good advice could well be worth £500+VAT.

drakioned · 28 Apr 2024 at 22:53

ilc72 said:
If it’s pension related you may be better with a tax specialist, but if it’s a PAYE from an employer it should be handled at source. The only area if you are drawing a pension already and limitations of future contributions. Pensions are not just the preserve of accountants, a good independent financial adviser.

If it’s your own business, then you have a lot of flexibility especially if you haven’t used full contributions in previous years. Even if you are employed, then speak to pensions to see if you can make increased contributions as a one-off or monthly. Finally, good advice could well be worth £500+VAT.

It's dumber than that.

I paid too much money into my pension and I have to pay tax on the excess, but I want someone who knows what they're doing to help me calculate the excess and correct the return.

Hellsmk2 · 28 Apr 2024 at 23:09

drakioned said:
how much did they cost?

Couple of hundred for the last self assessment, but a couple hundred more to go through the previous years - I'd asked them to go further back to check I'd been doing it right because I'd had nothing but issues with my tax code (I'd been doing it right, but was worth the extra for peace of mind).