Accounting Cost

General.Tee

Just wondering how much accounting services generally cost for a small business or if anyone has used taxassist.ie before and what they are like?

Have a meeting with them during the week but have read some old reviews that didn't put them in the best light wondering if things have changed? Will get a free quote from them anyway but wouldn't be sure if it is even competitive as not sure what the standard rate would be!

Any advise would be appreciated. Very small start up so its nothing big!

Cheers

Gloomtastic!

TaxAssist is a franchise operation so you'll probably get different levels of service from different franchises.

Are you a limited co or a sole trader?

General.Tee

Currently a sole trader but going to set up as a Limited company, that's why im looking to get an accountant. No real idea how much it would cost per year was wondering what a ball type figure would be?

Someone in the LEO told me to get in contact with Taxassist but then saw a few bad reviews on here! In saying that the threads were a few years old! meeting with them on Wednesday so will see what their like I suppose. Wouldn't mind knowing the general fees though.

CIARAN_BOYLE

General.Tee wrote: »

Currently a sole trader but going to set up as a Limited company, that's why im looking to get an accountant. No real idea how much it would cost per year was wondering what a ball type figure would be?

Someone in the LEO told me to get in contact with Taxassist but then saw a few bad reviews on here! In saying that the threads were a few years old! meeting with them on Wednesday so will see what their like I suppose. Wouldn't mind knowing the general fees though.

Describe your business, your transaction volume, and your bookeeping system and someone should give you an estimate.

IpreDictDeatH

Mine is about €300 per quarter for vat returns and end of year. I do my own book keeping and vat calculations but accountant looks over and files everything for me correctly. I'm in retail.

General.Tee

Its a start up in retail. I met with tax assist today to discuss if I should set up as a company or stay as a sole trader and get a general quote for both. I got a quote of €900 for sole trader and over 2k to do the accounts if I set up as a company. Think ill stay as sole trader for the moment with the difference between the two.

Have another meeting with another accountant tomorrow so I will compare the two but generally just wanted to get an idea of what to expect. As I can see from above Tax Assist isn't far off what other people are paying.

Thanks

dbran

General.Tee wrote: »

Its a start up in retail. I met with tax assist today to discuss if I should set up as a company or stay as a sole trader and get a general quote for both. I got a quote of €900 for sole trader and over 2k to do the accounts if I set up as a company. Think ill stay as sole trader for the moment with the difference between the two.

Have another meeting with another accountant tomorrow so I will compare the two but generally just wanted to get an idea of what to expect. As I can see from above Tax Assist isn't far off what other people are paying.

Thanks

Good to know that I am competitive:eek: It does seem like a somewhat excessive quote. What did you tell them?

dbran

General.Tee

The quote for €900 for a sole trader was reasonable I think as I register as a sole trader late 22014 so they will do accounts for 2014 & 2015. I had another meeting with a different practice today and they were quoting similar for the sole trader but they said a company account would probably be in between 1300 - 1500 they didn't do fixed pricing.

Still going to stay as a sole trader for the minute but not sure what company to go for yet. Ill tak assists flat rate so i know what im getting myself into.

With the other place they might say ye it will probably cost you X but then it actually costs you Y!

@BRAN - Would you think a quote of €900 for a sole trader doing Vat returns for the year to be competitive?

This also includes phone and face to face support as well.

dbran

Its hard to give a definitive answer without all of the relevant facts.

If it includes bookkeeping then it is a very good quote.

If it is just preparing a set of accounts and tax return (x2) then it is just OK. It really depends on how much hand holding you need during the year, and the size of the business involved.

VAT returns are for the most part a case of simple subtraction and you should do your own unless you are run off your feet. If you do need help with them I would go to a specialised bookkeeper rather then an accountant. They would work out cheaper and you would get a better service. A lot of clients would have a bookkeeper for the day to day things and an accountant for the year end work. There is a lot of bookkeeping packages out there which are very good and user friendly, (some are free) that prepare the VAT returns for you

On a separate point, retail is a very tough business at the moment and I would advise a limited company for the protection of limited liability that it affords.

Just my 2c

dbran

Immy

I think €900 for VAT and IT is good as long as all bookkeeping is included.

Again it's all based on hours so depends how long it's going to take them.

I would think if it's €900 for sole trader it should be only about €300 extra for company.

dbran

Are the quotes inclusive of VAT ? Does the company quote include the cost of forming the company?

General.Tee

Ye the more I look at this the less im happy with the quotes actually. It was exclusive of VAT.

I can do VAT returns myself now as I am using the system bullethq and they have informed me that once I register for Vat this system will do everything for me! And I will be doing the books myself.

So all I am really getting them to do is my year end tax and a bit of advice during the year for €900.

The quote is for 1100 (inc VAT) lets say and for that i get

VAT registration
sole trade income & expenditure y/e 2015
VAT review 2015
Income Tax returns 2015

general accounts and tax support

Does this sound about right? Think I will continue to look around

The other quote for the company didn't include company set up. This was another €400

IpreDictDeatH

Too much time spent on trying to find the cheapest accountant is unwise in my opinion. Most important is your relationship with them and if they have enough knowledge in your sector to keep you from getting into an expensive situation if you file something incorrectly etc.. I don't think accountants are out to rip anyone off and i do think that their knowledge should be appreciated. A fair price from an accountant who is knowledgeable in your sector and who you gel with is all you should be concerned with. Find that person quickly and get focused on growing the business. Saving an extra €100/€200 a year is not going to make your business anymore viable. Those cost savings can be approached a year or two after your set up if you wish.

writhen

IpreDictDeatH wrote: »

Too much time spent on trying to find the cheapest accountant is unwise in my opinion. Most important is your relationship with them and if they have enough knowledge in your sector to keep you from getting into an expensive situation if you file something incorrectly etc.. I don't think accountants are out to rip anyone off and i do think that their knowledge should be appreciated. A fair price from an accountant who is knowledgeable in your sector and who you gel with is all you should be concerned with. Find that person quickly and get focused on growing the business. Saving an extra €100/€200 a year is not going to make your business anymore viable. Those cost savings can be approached a year or two after your set up if you wish.

This is so true.

Graham

IpreDictDeatH wrote: »

Too much time spent on trying to find the cheapest accountant is unwise in my opinion. Most important is your relationship with them and if they have enough knowledge in your sector to keep you from getting into an expensive situation if you file something incorrectly etc.. I don't think accountants are out to rip anyone off and i do think that their knowledge should be appreciated. A fair price from an accountant who is knowledgeable in your sector and who you gel with is all you should be concerned with. Find that person quickly and get focused on growing the business. Saving an extra €100/€200 a year is not going to make your business anymore viable. Those cost savings can be approached a year or two after your set up if you wish.

+1

Future episodes include; picking a designer and getting a logo, choosing paper for my company stationary and visiting printers to get the best quote.

OP, it is often the case that the only thing worse than a bad decision is no decision.

Robroy36

IpreDictDeatH wrote: »

Too much time spent on trying to find the cheapest accountant is unwise in my opinion. Most important is your relationship with them and if they have enough knowledge in your sector to keep you from getting into an expensive situation if you file something incorrectly etc.. I don't think accountants are out to rip anyone off and i do think that their knowledge should be appreciated. A fair price from an accountant who is knowledgeable in your sector and who you gel with is all you should be concerned with. Find that person quickly and get focused on growing the business. Saving an extra €100/€200 a year is not going to make your business anymore viable. Those cost savings can be approached a year or two after your set up if you wish.

Yep. This I'd true. You want a good accountant you can. Trust. Looking for a cheap one is like buying cheap or potentially faulty breaks for your car.

My one bills 100e per hour and work out at about 1500 ish a year. He is super strict about revenue rules etc so stops me meandering into doddgy areas with expense claims etc. It gives me peace of mind to the extent that I am not overly bothered about getting audited in the future.

A good one is worth every cent.

As an aside I found tax assist to be very expensive.

General.Tee

I agree as well and I wasn't looking for just a cheap accountant. As this was my first time looking for one I just wanted to know the general price to expect before I went to meet them so started the post before I had met with any.

My business is very small at the moment and I will be doing all the books and tax returns myself so when I was quoted €900 exc VAT for doing my returns I thought this was a bit steep in the end. I do agree though that having a good relationship with your accountant can save money in the end so a decision will be made very soon.

Thanks for the help though

Robroy36

General.Tee wrote: »

I agree as well and I wasn't looking for just a cheap accountant. As this was my first time looking for one I just wanted to know the general price to expect before I went to meet them so started the post before I had met with any.

My business is very small at the moment and I will be doing all the books and tax returns myself so when I was quoted €900 exc VAT for doing my returns I thought this was a bit steep in the end. I do agree though that having a good relationship with your accountant can save money in the end so a decision will be made very soon.

Thanks for the help though

What sort of t/o and number of invoices / clients are you talking about? Anything less than about 30k ish should be manageable on your own.

€900 does seem a bit steep - if you are in South / Central Dublin PM me and I can send you details of my accountant.