Self assessment - utr question/advice and back dating freeagent

[tracey.]

Following on from my previous post about my concerns about my accountant (still have no information or contact from them), I am in the process of preparing , very rapidly, my SA for 24/25.

Ive had a LOAD of issues with my UTR which was allocated to me by hmrc when I first started self employment in April 24. Upon realising that my accountant is a complete waste of space I eventually got through to hmrc and it seems that i had a utr about 20 years ago and they stll have that on my record. The person spoke to said to use the mst recent one and he would amend this attheir end. So, all good....logged in today to have a look at the self assessment process and i can log in with this recent utr but on the page once ive logged in, it says 'your utr is ******'...THE OLD ONE! Even though ive successfully logged in with the recent one. Just to double check , i also tried logging in with the old one but cant get in.
Now I am concerned that I might submit the SA to the wrong account. Also, very reluctant to call them as when I did call, they asked me a security question I had absolutely no chance of answring as it was referring to this very very short stint of self employed registration 20 years ago, then they hung up.Called back three times and eventually got asked a relevant question. Any advice, thoughts, hints will be most welcome!

Also, for 25/26 I am using freeagent - its for the same business as the above 24/25 year but I have set the freeagent date to april 6th 2025 in preparation for that tax year.
Given the problem i have with my accountant, I am consdering doing my own assessment on freeagent, setting the start date back to april 6th 2024 and uploading the bank statements. Do you foresee any issue with this? I have my opening balance for April 6th and all the transactions on the bank statements will populate once uploaded.

Thanks

 

[Lisa Thomas]

Yes I see a whole can of worms being opened with you submitting your own tax return if you have never done this before, especially given the UTR issue. If you're confident you know what you're doing then great, if not then I recommend you get an accountant to help you. I can recommend one fi you don't find one on here.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Following on from my previous post about my concerns about my accountant (still have no information or contact from them), I am in the process of preparing , very rapidly, my SA for 24/25.

Ive had a LOAD of issues with my UTR which was allocated to me by hmrc when I first started self employment in April 24. Upon realising that my accountant is a complete waste of space I eventually got through to hmrc and it seems that i had a utr about 20 years ago and they stll have that on my record. The person spoke to said to use the mst recent one and he would amend this attheir end. So, all good....logged in today to have a look at the self assessment process and i can log in with this recent utr but on the page once ive logged in, it says 'your utr is ******'...THE OLD ONE! Even though ive successfully logged in with the recent one. Just to double check , i also tried logging in with the old one but cant get in.
Now I am concerned that I might submit the SA to the wrong account. Also, very reluctant to call them as when I did call, they asked me a security question I had absolutely no chance of answring as it was referring to this very very short stint of self employed registration 20 years ago, then they hung up.Called back three times and eventually got asked a relevant question. Any advice, thoughts, hints will be most welcome!

Also, for 25/26 I am using freeagent - its for the same business as the above 24/25 year but I have set the freeagent date to april 6th 2025 in preparation for that tax year.
Given the problem i have with my accountant, I am consdering doing my own assessment on freeagent, setting the start date back to april 6th 2024 and uploading the bank statements. Do you foresee any issue with this? I have my opening balance for April 6th and all the transactions on the bank statements will populate once uploaded.

Thanks

I really would call HMRC again. I can see this getting messy. You may need to be patient and persevere to speak with them.

As for the FreeAgent question you'd be best getting advice from FreeAgent support. I use FreeAgent and am not sure whether this may create an issue so I'd ask them direct. I find the support is very good.

 

[tracey.]

Thanks for your replies. I emailed my new accountant and she has explained the UTR issue, I was getting a few points confused.
Wish I'd appointed this new accountant from the beginning she's very helpful

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Thanks for your replies. I emailed my new accountant and she has explained the UTR issue, I was getting a few points confused.
Wish I'd appointed this new accountant from the beginning she's very helpful

Great news glad you got it resolved.

 

[Newchodge]

Have you paid the old accountant anything?

 

[tracey.]

Not yet, I am assuming they will present their invoice prior to submitting the return. I am very reluctantly going to have to pay it.
This invoice will include their fee for preparing and submitting the return and also what seems to be a 'guestimate' of other time theyre billing me for due to answering a few emails and phone calls. This is a company, not a self employed accountant. The employee initially allocated to my accounts has left a trail of unfinished work which is why there has been a delay as another employee who works there just one day a week has had to take over. She is now trying to work out how much work the previous person has done and I will have absolutely no way of disputing or questioning this with it being so close to the deadline.

 

[Newchodge]

Not yet, I am assuming they will present their invoice prior to submitting the return. I am very reluctantly going to have to pay it.
This invoice will include their fee for preparing and submitting the return and also what seems to be a 'guestimate' of other time theyre billing me for due to answering a few emails and phone calls. This is a company, not a self employed accountant. The employee initially allocated to my accounts has left a trail of unfinished work which is why there has been a delay as another employee who works there just one day a week has had to take over. She is now trying to work out how much work the previous person has done and I will have absolutely no way of disputing or questioning this with it being so close to the deadline.

I would write to them today stating that as they have failed to submit your return on several deadlines you are ending the contract and will not make any payment.

 

[tracey.]

But they have until the end of january so they will argue that case

 

[Newchodge]

You told us they had missed a deadline at Christmas. You sound as if they are going to submit your return? So why all your anxiety about it not being done?

 

[tracey.]

I can just see yet more excuses....in December alone there was
1 - we have had a burglary
2 - Ive been ill
3 - we have a new computer system which has rendered us offline for a few days

 

[Newchodge]

I can just see yet more excuses....in December alone there was
1 - we have had a burglary
2 - Ive been ill
3 - we have a new computer system which has rendered us offline for a few days

None of which is your problem. Stand up for yourself. Sack them today, and either submit yourself or we can help you find an accountant who can submit for you. Are your accounts really that complicated?

 

[tracey.]

No they're not complicated at all - 24/25 was first year in business and I had absolutely no idea what to do but Ive learned a lot since then and I do feel I could do it myself if need be but with it being first year I would rather not.
So ultimately if they dont have them ready by tomorrow, I will do it myself over the weekend. I will still have to pay them though which is slightly annoying

 

[DWS]

I can just see yet more excuses....in December alone there was
1 - we have had a burglary
2 - Ive been ill
3 - we have a new computer system which has rendered us offline for a few days

So why not ask your new Accountant to do it?

 

[tracey.]

Great dea however that will mean paying two sets of fees

 

[Newchodge]

Great dea however that will mean paying two sets of fees

Why should you pay for a service you have not received?

 

[DWS]

Great dea however that will mean paying two sets of fees

Well it won’t will it if you contact your existing Accountant and tell them you have lost all faith in them and are now appointing someone else.
As long as everything you gave stated in your posts is true then they have had enough time to complete your accounts, just make sure that the reason for the delay is their doing and not that you have failed to provide the information requested or failed to make agreed payments.

 

[tracey.]

Yes, everything is up to date, there was one request for more information back in september and it was a simple query. Spreadsheets completed exactly as they asked. I havent made any payments - I asked about this when I returned the signed copy of their letter of engagement, the person who has now left suggested setting aside some money per month which i have done but not paid them anything as nothing has been requested.
Just looking at the LofE, there is a paragraph headed TIMETABLE' - the services we undertake will be carried out on a timescale to be determined between us on an ongoing basis. I am assuming that even though theyve messed me around for this long, the occasional email with 'itll be ready by Friday' is covered by this paragraph

 

[DWS]

Yes, everything is up to date, there was one request for more information back in september and it was a simple query. Spreadsheets completed exactly as they asked. I havent made any payments - I asked about this when I returned the signed copy of their letter of engagement, the person who has now left suggested setting aside some money per month which i have done but not paid them anything as nothing has been requested.
Just looking at the LofE, there is a paragraph headed TIMETABLE' - the services we undertake will be carried out on a timescale to be determined between us on an ongoing basis. I am assuming that even though theyve messed me around for this long, the occasional email with 'itll be ready by Friday' is covered by this paragraph

If you have provided everything they have asked from you, and you have repeatedly asked for the accounts to be completed as you have stated, then I cannot see how the Accountants can argue, just make sure you have evidence of all correspondence.