Just as every small business needs to ensure their financial affairs are being handled by experts, all IT contractors and freelancers should make sure they sign up with a reputable, specialist accountant.
With the added complexity of tax issues such as IR35, we recommend you follow these top tips to help choose a good contractor accountant
These tips are should be read along with our Top 10 Tips for choosing a small business accountant.
Tips for choosing a contractor accountant
1. Specialists – above all, you should look to hire a team of specialist contractor accountants. Only firms who deal mainly with the contract/freelance market will have a sufficient understanding of the tax issues involved in running a contracting business.
2. Fees – most contractor accountants will provide a complete accountancy service for a fixed monthly fee. This should typically include all dealings with the tax authorities, completion of TAX returns, PAYE and NI calculations, and your year end accounts. Make sure you know what is provided within the monthly fee before signing up.
3. Extra Services – many contractor accountancy packages may include things like IR35 advice, and completion of your annual self assessment return. If you are just starting out, your accountant may also be able to set up a company for you, register you for VAT, and other services if you require them.
4. Knowledge of tax legislation – IR35, Managed Service Companies, and more recently, Income Shifting, are major tax issues which will affect a large number of contractors. Any accountant you sign up with must be up-to-speed with these topics and how they may affect you personally.
5. Service – you may well find that your initial dealings with prospective accountants will give you an initial idea of how well they service clients, and how efficient they are. For this reason, it is worth calling several contractor accountants to find out more about their services, and see how the pre-sign up process goes with each one. You may prefer to join a small or large firm, depending on your personal feelings. Luckily, there are over 100 firms to choose from!
6. Recommendations – as with all other business professionals, one of the best ways to find a good firm of contractor accountants is via recommendations from other contractor colleagues. Many longer term contractors will have used a number of accountants in the past before finding one that suits.
Try Contract Eye’s <a href=”http://www.contracteye.co.uk/it-contractor-accountant-sites.shtml”>directory of contractor accountants</a> for some initial suggestions.
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