Setting up my Ltd company - do it myself or let the accountant do it?

[thekitchendesigner]

I will shortly want to set up my Ltd company.

I've talked (briefly) to my accountant about this and he has said he'll sort this all out for me, for about £200.

are there any benefits in him doing this for me as opposed to me doing it myself? I have no problems in doing this myself, and i'm wondering what extras he will do that i wont know about?

It wont cost anywhere near as much if i do it, which makes me think will i be missing something? Will he set it up more tax efficiently (if thats possible?).

I'd rather do it myself and save myself some dosh! Any advice welcome.

Cheers

 

[bwglaw]

It is cheaper to set it up yourself and it is not difficult and there is no tax efficient way of setting it up. However you will need some basic information to hand. Why not talk to Ozzy?

Jonathan

 

[Ozzy]

Hi Mark,
An accountant would look at your personal circumstances and decide whether limited status is the right route for you or not, and then taking into account your partners income (if you are married) may advise on different share structures. This is normally where their additional charges would come in.

If you know all that, and know what you want, then I by all means click the link in my signature below :tongue:. If you are unsure, then get your accountant to do it via clicking the link in my signature below :wink: (ie. recommend me to your accountant please - just incase you missed the hint!)

 

[thekitchendesigner]

Jonathan - thanks for the reply. Looks like Ozzy was ready and waiting!

Ozzy - i've discussed with him the pro's & cons of going limited and there are a few reasons for making the switch, so thats all sorted. I'm not married yet, but will be by July 1st! This bit i dont know about

Are there any websites etc that touch on these subjects & shares etc that i can look at before approaching him about it?

Hints taken - nice work!:smile:

 

[Alpha]

Ozzy - i've discussed with him the pro's & cons of going limited and there are a few reasons for making the switch, so thats all sorted. I'm not married yet, but will be by July 1st! This bit i dont know about

Are there any websites etc that touch on these subjects & shares etc that i can look at before approaching him about it?

Hints taken - nice work!:smile:

Probably Ozzy's.

Seriously though all you really need to do now is follow the instructions on Ozzy's site if you have checked everything else out with your accountant.

It is quite straight forward.

 

[Joyous]

I've talked (briefly) to my accountant about this and he has said he'll sort this all out for me, for about £200.

Flipping heck, if this is the going rate among accountants then I need to up my fees!

If you've already discussed the pros and cons with your accountant and you now just want to go through the mechanics of setting it up then as others have said speak to Ozzy.

Regards

Joy

 

[bwglaw]

My former Accountant (well AAT) charged me around £275 and he even used a formation company to supply the documents! It was several years ago and I set up many others on my own now.

Jonathan

 

[Joyous]

Jonathan I'm surprised at you... super guru of everything legal and you let yourself get fleeced like that.

Joy

 

[bwglaw]

It was the first time I set up a Ltd Co and I thought the fee was reasonable without shopping around. He was connected to a community I belong so I wanted to pass work his way. Stopped using his services some time ago after getting a massive bill!

No-one can fleece me now!

 

[thekitchendesigner]

thanks for the replies so far.

The shares concern me as i wouldnt know the best way to allocate. Theres also things like the laptop, design software and the car which are all being paid for by the business loan i currently have. What happens to them?

 

[bwglaw]

Business loan? - as you are a sole-trader I presume you took the loan out in your own name? If that is the caes, the assets mention are yours. Legally, you can either assign the assets to the new Ltd Co or keep them under your name and 'lend' them to the Company.

I have several computers/printers in my name because I bought them from DELL under a finance package under my name. I assigned it to the company by declaring the assets in the balance sheets

Jonathan

 

[thekitchendesigner]

yeah it was a small business loan from HSBC, under my name 'trading as ........'. Are there benefits to assigning them to the business? The payments come out of a business account ( i have a seperate personal account) and would prefer to keep it this way, unless it isnt beneficial.

att what stage do you have to declare the assets when changing from Sole trader to Ltd?

 

[bwglaw]

I can only advise on the legal issues. I deliberately left the other issues for the accountants on here to answer.

From what you have said it might make sense to tranfer the assets to the new Ltd Company so the Ltd Co can make the monthly payments. I am not sure if you can keep the assets and you personally charge the company for the lending. This is an issue the accountants can answer.

The legal benefits. Once you have assigned the ownership of the assets to the Ltd Co it remains the company's property. If the company accrues debts then all assets will be taken into account. Whereas, if you keep the ownership personally then any personal debts may put these assets at risk

You need to decide which is the best route depending on your personal circumstances and what the Accountant advises. I normally advise clients how to avoid having their assets liquidated because of high liabilities.

Some people may say that all assets/liabilities from sole-trader becomes the asset/liability of the new Ltd Company. I disagree on this point purely because the Ltd Company is a seperate legal entity of which you are employed by. Your employment status will change from self-employed to employee.

You ask at what stage to declare the assets from sole-trader to Ltd Co. This is a question for the accountants but what I understand is you declare the assets in the new Ltd Company's accounts/balance sheet.

Jonathan

 

[thekitchendesigner]

Hi Jonathan - most helpful, thank you very much. Plenty there for me to get sorting and looked into!

Cheers

 

[Alpha]

thanks for the replies so far.

The shares concern me as i wouldnt know the best way to allocate. Theres also things like the laptop, design software and the car which are all being paid for by the business loan i currently have. What happens to them?

Basically you need to pay your accountant to sort this out properly for you.

The tax benefits of transferring assets correctly and consequences of getting it wrong far outweigh the costs involved (even though you should expect to pay around £1k or so for it to be done properly)