Cost of submitting a VAT return
Discussion
Hi All
My accountant invoices me after submitting a quarterly VAT return. The last invoice was £344+vat which seems steep to me.
Interested to hear if this is sensible or not?
I compile the data and send to the accountant, they review it, make a couple of tweaks and submit it. I usually get a refund, (property development). My last return was a spend of £33,500 gross with a VAT refund of £3500. There was no income / sales. Less than 100 transactions.
My accountant invoices me after submitting a quarterly VAT return. The last invoice was £344+vat which seems steep to me.
Interested to hear if this is sensible or not?
I compile the data and send to the accountant, they review it, make a couple of tweaks and submit it. I usually get a refund, (property development). My last return was a spend of £33,500 gross with a VAT refund of £3500. There was no income / sales. Less than 100 transactions.
PurpleFox said:
Hi All
My accountant invoices me after submitting a quarterly VAT return. The last invoice was £344+vat which seems steep to me.
Interested to hear if this is sensible or not?
I compile the data and send to the accountant, they review it, make a couple of tweaks and submit it. I usually get a refund, (property development). My last return was a spend of £33,500 gross with a VAT refund of £3500. There was no income / sales. Less than 100 transactions.
Not sure of your specific situation, but 100 invoices that you are already compiling the data for seems a no brainer to submit yourself. My accountant invoices me after submitting a quarterly VAT return. The last invoice was £344+vat which seems steep to me.
Interested to hear if this is sensible or not?
I compile the data and send to the accountant, they review it, make a couple of tweaks and submit it. I usually get a refund, (property development). My last return was a spend of £33,500 gross with a VAT refund of £3500. There was no income / sales. Less than 100 transactions.
One of the juniors does it, surely it can't take more than an hour, I send the data sorted into the correct format in a spreadsheet all totaled up. Cost is fairly consistent being about 10% of the vat refund (around £250 to £350).
Would happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
Would happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
PurpleFox said:
One of the juniors does it, surely it can't take more than an hour, I send the data sorted into the correct format in a spreadsheet all totaled up. Cost is fairly consistent being about 10% of the vat refund (around £250 to £350).
Would happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
If you are going to do this yourself then you should read up on MTD (Making Tax Digital) as the submission needs to be electronic & there are some requirements around how records are kept. Here's one of the more recent threads on the subject:Would happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I don't know how you keep your records but it seems you have a spreadsheet so you could use linking software which will do the upload to HMRC - there are several suggestions in that thread.
Alternatively given your level of transactions have you thought about using something like Xero to run your accounts? If your accountant is doing other tax returns for you maybe ask what package they use or support.
PurpleFox said:
One of the juniors does it, surely it can't take more than an hour, I send the data sorted into the correct format in a spreadsheet all totaled up. Cost is fairly consistent being about 10% of the vat refund (around £250 to £350).
Would happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
He's taking the mick.Would happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
Mr Pointy said:
If you are going to do this yourself then you should read up on MTD (Making Tax Digital) as the submission needs to be electronic & there are some requirements around how records are kept. Here's one of the more recent threads on the subject:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I don't know how you keep your records but it seems you have a spreadsheet so you could use linking software which will do the upload to HMRC - there are several suggestions in that thread.
Alternatively given your level of transactions have you thought about using something like Xero to run your accounts? If your accountant is doing other tax returns for you maybe ask what package they use or support.
Thanks for the thread link and yes, I have looked into the likes of quickbooks, xero and sage etc but they just seem to do so much more than what I actually need to the point where they are bewildering. I have an old accounting package (Quicken from 2004) which works for me. I appreciate that I will have to move with the times and get something more up to date for MTD. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I don't know how you keep your records but it seems you have a spreadsheet so you could use linking software which will do the upload to HMRC - there are several suggestions in that thread.
Alternatively given your level of transactions have you thought about using something like Xero to run your accounts? If your accountant is doing other tax returns for you maybe ask what package they use or support.
Will give it another look.
PurpleFox said:
One of the juniors does it, surely it can't take more than an hour, I send the data sorted into the correct format in a spreadsheet all totaled up. Cost is fairly consistent being about 10% of the vat refund (around £250 to £350).
Woulda happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
When you say ‘totalled up’, is that already in the box 1-9 format for a VAT return.Woulda happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
Does sound like he is taking the Mick though. I often get advice from my accountant, and don’t get charged other than my normal end of year charges.
Agree with others. He's having your pants down.
Have a look at Quickbooks or Xero, for your needs should be absolutely simple and cheap. No need to be bewildered, they both have excellent online and phone back up. If you link your business bank account, it becomes even simpler. Should be a hell of a lot cheaper than your accountant. Who, by the way you need to get rid of. Plenty of others out there happy to give you a quote for your annual requirements.
Have a look at Quickbooks or Xero, for your needs should be absolutely simple and cheap. No need to be bewildered, they both have excellent online and phone back up. If you link your business bank account, it becomes even simpler. Should be a hell of a lot cheaper than your accountant. Who, by the way you need to get rid of. Plenty of others out there happy to give you a quote for your annual requirements.
PurpleFox said:
I remember the reason I didn't go for it last time I investigated.....I have three separate (small) companies and for most of the big online packages that would need three separate subscriptions, albeit they could use the same log-on.
I've had a quick look at Xero & that does seem to be the case & although they say that they apply a discount for multiple companies they don't tell you what it would be. Three Standard Plans would be £252 a quarter less discount.Do you do three separate VAT returns, one for each company?
I am using the Anna Money free excel plug-in. It is super simple and the entire making-tax-digital thing is not scary any more..
https://anna.money/free-tools/vat-filing/?utm_sour...
There are other tools.
https://anna.money/free-tools/vat-filing/?utm_sour...
There are other tools.
I submit my own. It’s free. Extremely easy. Get xero and do it yourself. It couldn’t be more simple to be honest, you just click a button. If he’s charging you hundreds to click a button he’s ripping you off.
You link your bank account and business credit card to xero and once a week or so just get on and confirm your transactions. It is honestly dead easy.
Every quarter you submit your vat return, but it takes a few seconds that’s all.
You link your bank account and business credit card to xero and once a week or so just get on and confirm your transactions. It is honestly dead easy.
Every quarter you submit your vat return, but it takes a few seconds that’s all.
Edited by Douglas Quaid on Thursday 9th February 16:24
Mrs Goingonholiday is a book keeper, one of her clients is a property developer. She handles everything, he just gives her the invoices, hundreds every month. Her rates are a lot lower than accountants rates. I'm pretty sure there are multiple companies and returns involved and the Xero, kashflow, quickbooks fees weren't that bad. Might be worth looking for a local book keeper?
Mr Pointy said:
PurpleFox said:
I remember the reason I didn't go for it last time I investigated.....I have three separate (small) companies and for most of the big online packages that would need three separate subscriptions, albeit they could use the same log-on.
I've had a quick look at Xero & that does seem to be the case & although they say that they apply a discount for multiple companies they don't tell you what it would be. Three Standard Plans would be £252 a quarter less discount.Do you do three separate VAT returns, one for each company?
Ham_and_Jam said:
PurpleFox said:
One of the juniors does it, surely it can't take more than an hour, I send the data sorted into the correct format in a spreadsheet all totaled up. Cost is fairly consistent being about 10% of the vat refund (around £250 to £350).
Woulda happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
When you say ‘totalled up’, is that already in the box 1-9 format for a VAT return.Woulda happily do it myself, I didn't know it was an option to be honest. I will look into it but I don't have any fancy software.
I think he must charge well over £350 an hour, I asked him for some advice this week about the sale of a property, received an email in response which was mostly copy and paste by the looks of it and then followed up with an invoice for £367.50+vat
Does sound like he is taking the Mick though. I often get advice from my accountant, and don’t get charged other than my normal end of year charges.
I have looked myself this afternoon but getting an error on the gov gateway portal due to the VAT filing being registered to a different gateway, presumably the accountants......
Does sound a lot if you're doing much of the work but you need to remember the accountant needs to make a living, pay overheads and although the junior is probably leading on the work there will be a senior review internally.
Personally I'd look for other options. Do you really need an Accountant with a big team and assume premises to pay? An online firm might suit you better for rates or as someone else has said why not use a bookkeeper instead and use some property business consultancy services for advice?
Personally I'd look for other options. Do you really need an Accountant with a big team and assume premises to pay? An online firm might suit you better for rates or as someone else has said why not use a bookkeeper instead and use some property business consultancy services for advice?
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff