Accountants for limited companies

It normally covers bookkeeping, VAT returns where you are registered, payroll for up to two employees, statutory year-end accounts filed at Companies House, the Corporation Tax return, the confirmation statement and the directors’ self assessment. FreeAgent is included, worth up to £330 a year. Outside the fee and quoted separately: catching up unfiled years, share reorganisations, company valuations, HMRC enquiries and regulated financial or legal advice. We do not carry out statutory audits. Your proposal sets out what is included and what is quoted separately, line by line, before you sign.

Accounts, the Corporation Tax return, VAT returns, the confirmation statement and your Self Assessment as a director start at £49 + VAT a month. The fee rises with turnover, payroll is added from £25 + VAT a month, and a second company is priced on its own. The instant quote shows your monthly fee in four questions, and the fee is fixed once agreed. FreeAgent is included, worth up to £330 a year, and questions are covered by the fee.

For most owner-directors, a modest salary set around the National Insurance thresholds with the balance as dividends. Salary is deductible for the company and protects your State Pension record; dividends carry no National Insurance but come out of profit that has already borne Corporation Tax. The right split depends on your other income, whether the Employment Allowance is available and how much profit you actually need to draw. Dividends can only be paid from distributable reserves, and cash in the bank is not the same as retained profit, because some of it belongs to HMRC. Run the numbers on the salary and dividend calculator, then let us check it against your accounts.

It goes to your director’s loan account. If the account is overdrawn at the year end and not repaid within nine months and a day, the company pays a section 455 charge on the outstanding balance. It is refundable, but only once the loan is cleared, which can be years of working capital sitting with HMRC. An interest-free balance over £10,000 is also a benefit in kind reportable on a P11D. It can usually be fixed with a properly documented dividend or bonus before the deadline. Tell us early, because there are fewer options once the year has closed.

Yes. Every limited company package includes the confirmation statement and the routine statutory filings, and we track the dates for you. Annual accounts are due at Companies House nine months after your year end, Corporation Tax is payable nine months and a day after it, and the CT600 is due twelve months after. Late accounts bring automatic penalties that double if you are late two years running, and the overdue status sits on your public record where lenders and customers can see it. Full detail is on the company secretarial page.

You can switch at any point, and most people do not wait. Just after a year end is tidiest because there is less part-year data to migrate, but a mid-year move is routine: we request professional clearance and your records, take over the HMRC agent authorisation, and pick up VAT and payroll cycles without a gap. Move quickly whatever the date if filings are already overdue or an accountant has gone quiet, because the penalties keep accruing while you decide. Check your existing engagement letter for notice terms and make sure work you have paid for has been delivered.

Act now, because the penalties escalate on a timetable. For Companies House, late accounts start at £150 for a private company and rise with the delay, doubling if you were also late the previous year. For HMRC, a late CT600 brings its own penalties, and interest runs on unpaid Corporation Tax from the due date regardless. Appeals succeed only where there is a genuine reasonable excuse, and “the accountant did not tell me” is generally not one. We will establish exactly what is outstanding, file in the order that limits further penalties, and tell you what can be appealed.

Questions are covered by the monthly fee under a fair usage policy, and we reply the same working day to anything sent before 3pm. That covers questions such as: can I afford this hire, should I buy the van before the year end, what does this HMRC letter mean, is this dividend safe. Larger pieces of work, such as a restructure, an enquiry or a valuation, are quoted before they start. If your questions are really a request for daily bookkeeping, we will say so and price that properly.