I am a ltd company i need help

[ukyoungbusinessman]

hi there ppl this is my first thread i hope you lot can help.
Baisically i have a ltd company which has been running for 2 years i have done my first year accounts for £900 i feel as though i am paying too much and want to do every thing my self but need help, what i need is a check list of every thing that i need to do for example:
1) to tax return online (with the link posted)
2) the thing about corporate tax (with the link)
3) and every thing else i need to know thanks

 

[Scalloway]

1) To complete your tax return on line follow this link

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ct/ct-online/index.htm

2) Corporation tax

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ct/index.htm

3) How long does it take your business to make you £900? That is the maximum time you should spend on this, otherwise it is more expensive than hiring an accountant to do it. Then factor in the possible penalties for getting it wrong and the extra tax you will pay because you lack the knowledge/time to do it properly.

 

[Tom McClelland]

One option to consider. It really doesn't need to cost £900 to do the statutory compliance work for a small limited company. Particularly if you can do the books to trial balance yourself, and reconcile them.

I expect that there are plenty of accountants here who would quote you less than that for the compliance work. I'd recommend that approach because however good at bookkeeping and payroll admin you are, filing CT return and CH accounts is far from easy. Sufficiently hard that I'd recommend that no amateur should ever attempt it.

 

[Jenni384]

£900 may be too much or it may be about right, we can't tell without knowing how complicated your affairs are. If you are happy with your accountants service, then it might be worth talking to them to see if there is anything you can do yourself to help reduce their fees (but as Scalloway rightly points out, considerthe opportunity cost of your time in this! It may be false economy). If you aren't overly happy in general then look for another accountant. You will get cheaper, but you are looking to be happy with the overall package, don't just shop on price. As others have said, do get a professional to do the CT600 at least; it takes us years to qualify for a reason!

 

[InPrintImaging]

Depends on what circumstances and services you are using with your current accountant, but for a small limited company £900 could be about right. In fact I have seen many that cost more than this, and some that cost less.

As several people above have said however, be very careful about trying to do things that you do not have the technical expertise to do. There are plenty of examples of businesses out there that have been "ordered" to employ a professional by HMRC/companies house, due to them repeatedly filing incorrect returns. The consequences and penalties can be severe, you have been warned.

The other point (also raised by others above) is that you should be wary of the technecal competance of whoever you decide to work with. This reminds me of a practice I worked for a long time ago (what I do now is the result of a carreer change). The guy in questions key selling point was that he did everything for half the price of the rest of the local competition. Unfortunately, however, his technical knowledge was not up to scratch (he freely admitted he didn't know anything about tax), and also, as a result of the low fees, he couldn't afford sufficient numbers of staff to do the work. As a consequence, returns were sometimes submitted incorrectly, and further, clients records would sit on the shelves for months before the accounts were completed. It got to such a bad state that I decided I had had enough and moved on to another place.

I'm not necessarily saying always go for the most expensive out there, but you do need to be sure that the person who you choose is running a proper business and is actually competent. If they are suspiciously cheap, you need to ask a few more questions. They may be able to answer them, if so great, but none the less be prepared to use your judgement.

 

[mr. mischief]

All Corporation tax returns must now be supported with accounts in a special language called IXBRLi. Personally I am of the view that this fact alone reduces the chances of the average client being able to file their own limited company accounts and tax from a small number - say 5% - to less than 1%.

Unless the company is entitled to file dormant accounts.

So as an earlier poster has said, the sheer amount of time you'd need to invest in doing all these hard yards is surely not worth the saving in fees, not to mention the risk that you make a blunder somewhere along the line.

If you do very good basic book-keeping, keep business and personal separate and have no complex issues such as major capital investment within your company, you could be looking at fees as low as £500. Well that's my own lowest fee to a non-dormant limited company.

For those clients needing extra services the fees can be a lot more than that. So in an extreme case, if exactly the same company came along with incomplete records, total mixing up of business and personal transactions, and no book-keeping just a big pile of invoices with numerous missing ones, the £500 can soon turn into £2,000.

As a fixed price accountant I ask a great many questions about the way the records are going to come to me, then put any assumptions arising into that quote. Ideally you should find a local guy who'll give you the sort of service you want at the right price, who is qualified and has PII cover. Then spend the time you might have spent on book-keeping getting in extra business at margins which will more than cover the accountancy fee.

 

[accountancyextra]

You will get cheaper, but you are looking to be happy with the overall package, don't just shop on price. As others have said, do get a professional to do the CT600 at least; it takes us years to qualify for a reason!

Wise words Jenni