Accounting

Contractor Accountants · West London

Contractor accountants in Acton, Ealing

Contracting through a company from Acton means a stack of filings that have to agree with each other and a salary-and-dividend split that has to be defensible. We run the whole cycle online for a fixed monthly fee, review your contracts for IR35 and make sure the money you take out is documented properly. No surprises at year end.

from £75/mo · fixed, per month

Next deadlines

  • PAYE and National Insurance for last month paid to HMRC (electronic)
  • PAYE and National Insurance for last month paid to HMRC (electronic)
  • PAYE and National Insurance for last month paid to HMRC (electronic)
  • Online Self Assessment filing deadline and balancing payment due

Who this is for

Contractor Accountants for Acton

Contractors and interim professionals in Acton, Ealing working through their own limited company: IT and software contractors, engineers, project managers, interim finance staff, consultants, medical and allied health locums who have incorporated, and permanent employees about to go contracting who need the company set up and the first engagement reviewed.

What is included

Everything inside the fixed fee

  • Statutory accounts and Corporation Tax return prepared and filed each year
  • Director payroll run monthly with RTI submissions and the salary set at the efficient level
  • Dividend vouchers and board minutes for every distribution, with the available reserves checked first
  • Quarterly VAT returns and bookkeeping in the Plus and Complete packages
  • Director's Self Assessment and an annual planning call in the Complete package
  • IR35 status reviews of your contracts and working practices, with a written opinion

How it works

Contractor Accountants from Acton, Ealing, step by step

  1. Scope the job

    We find out what you need filed, when it is due and what state the records are in, and tell you which fixed-fee package applies.

  2. Agree the price

    The fee is confirmed in writing. There is no hourly billing and nothing added for questions during the work.

  3. Hand over the records

    Photographs, PDFs, software access or a spreadsheet, sent however suits you. We confirm what we have and what is missing within two working days.

  4. Approve, then we submit

    You review the draft with our explanation, sign off, and we file. Receipts, copies and the next deadlines come back to you immediately.

Why IGI

The IGI way of working, in Acton

The price for contractor accountants is published on this page and is what a client in Acton pays. We confirm it in writing first, and the invoice matches the quote.

Nothing for Acton is left to the last week. Each deadline relevant to contractor accountants is tracked from the day you join, with the next four shown on every page we send you.

No appointments, no travel across West London, no parking. Everything for contractor accountants in Acton happens online, with a real person on the other end during UK working hours.

A named person handles your contractor accountants from Acton and knows the file, so you are not re-explaining your business to a different helpdesk each time.

The output for Acton clients is never just a form. It is the form, a one-page summary of what it says, and a note of the decisions it points to for contractor accountants.

Nothing is filed for Acton until you have reviewed and approved it. You see the draft, you ask questions, you sign off, then we submit and send you the receipt.

Local facts

About Acton, Ealing

Acton, Ealing is in West London, within Ealing, in the W3 postcode district, England. For businesses in England the tax rules are those set by the UK Parliament: the 20/40/45% income tax bands, Class 4 National Insurance for the self-employed at 6% and 2%, Corporation Tax at 19% to 25%, and Stamp Duty Land Tax on property. Business rates are set locally by the council.

Nearby places we also serve for contractor accountants
PlaceDistanceDirection
Acton Central0.5 miN
South Acton0.6 miS
Ealing Common0.7 miW
Southfield, Ealing0.8 miSE
West Acton0.8 miNW
Hanger Hill0.9 miNW
Acton Green, Ealing0.9 miSE
North Ealing0.9 miNW

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

Closing a company

A solvent company that has finished its purpose can be dissolved by voluntary strike-off: form DS01 with a £13 Companies House fee, after three months without trading and with all debts paid, final accounts and tax return filed, and assets distributed. HMRC objects to any application where returns or tax are outstanding, so the sequence matters more than the form.

Switching accountants

Changing accountant is simpler than most people fear. You authorise the new firm, which writes to the old one for professional clearance and your records; the outgoing accountant must hand over your own documents and usually does within two weeks. The new firm registers as your agent with HMRC and picks up the next filing. There is no need to wait for a year end.

Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment

Auto-enrolment duties begin the day you take on your first employee, not when the Pensions Regulator writes to you. Eligible staff must be enrolled, contributions paid every pay period and re-enrolment carried out every three years. Director-only companies without employment contracts are usually exempt. Fines for non-compliance are fixed and escalating.

Employer National Insurance

The cost of an employee is more than the salary. Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year, the 3% minimum pension contribution, holiday pay, equipment and management time all come on top. The Employment Allowance of £10,500 reduces the National Insurance for most employers with more than one person on the payroll.

The trading and property allowances

The first £1,000 of trading income and, separately, the first £1,000 of property income each year is tax free under the trading and property allowances. Below those figures no return is needed for that income. Above them you can deduct the £1,000 allowance instead of actual expenses if that is better, which suits side businesses and single-room lets with few costs.

Dormant companies

Dormancy is a status that is easy to lose. The strict rule is no accounting transactions other than share capital and Companies House fees, which means no bank account activity at all in practice. Fees should be paid personally by the director. A company that traded and has stopped becomes dormant only after its final trading accounts and tax return are filed and HMRC is told.

The 60-day property CGT return

Since April 2020 a gain on UK residential property must be reported and the tax paid within 60 days of completion through HMRC's dedicated service, separately from the annual return. Non-residents must report all UK land disposals in the same window whether or not tax is due. Getting the computation right first time matters because the figure is then carried into the Self Assessment.

Questions

Contractor Accountants questions from Acton

What do Plus and Complete add?

Plus at £105 adds quarterly VAT returns and monthly bookkeeping from your bank feed, so the records are kept for you. Complete at £125 adds the director's Self Assessment return and an annual tax planning call covering salary, dividends, pension and the year ahead. Most contractors inside VAT choose Plus or Complete.

What is in the £75 Essential package?

Annual statutory accounts and CT600 filed with Companies House and HMRC, monthly director payroll with RTI submissions, dividend vouchers and minutes, the confirmation statement filed (Companies House £50 fee separate), and deadline tracking. It suits contractors outside VAT or who prefer to do their own VAT and bookkeeping.

What is the flat rate VAT scheme and should I use it?

For most contractors with low costs the limited-cost-trader rate of 16.5% removes any advantage of the flat rate scheme, and the standard scheme reclaiming input VAT on equipment and software is better. Contractors with significant qualifying costs may differ. We calculate both at registration and review annually.

How are dividends documented?

Each dividend needs a board minute approving it and a dividend voucher recording the date, amount and shareholder. The company must have sufficient distributable profits after tax at the time. We check the reserves before each dividend, produce the paperwork and keep it on file, because undocumented dividends are reclassified by HMRC as salary or loans.

Can I claim travel and subsistence?

For engagements outside IR35, travel to a client site that is a temporary workplace is claimable, subject to the 24-month rule: once you know an engagement will exceed 24 months at the same site, it stops being temporary. Subsistence follows the travel. Inside-IR35 engagements lose these claims. We check each engagement.

My client has put me inside IR35. Should I still use my company?

It can still be worth it if you have other outside-IR35 work, but for a single inside-IR35 engagement an umbrella company or direct PAYE is often simpler and cheaper. We run the comparison for your specific numbers and tell you honestly, even if the answer is that you do not need us for that contract.

How do I get started from Acton, Ealing?

Message us on WhatsApp or email with a sentence about your business and what you need. We reply in working hours with any questions and a fixed fee for contractor accountants. Once you confirm, we tell you exactly which records to send and the work begins. Most Acton clients are set up within a day.

Which deadlines matter most for contractor accountants?

The next four dates that apply to contractor accountants are shown at the top of this page, calculated from today. For Acton clients we diarise every one of them from the day you join and send reminders before each, so the work is done in good time rather than in the last week before a penalty.

Start the conversation from Acton

Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.

WhatsApp for a fixed quote