Accounting

Contractor Accountants · South West London

Contractor accountants in Barnes

Contractor accountants for Barnes who do not charge for every phone call. The Essential package covers the compliance a contractor company needs; Plus adds VAT and bookkeeping; Complete adds your personal return and a yearly planning call. Everything online, nothing filed until you approve it, and the fee is agreed in writing before you join.

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 Barnes

Contractors and interim professionals in Barnes 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 Barnes, 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 Barnes

One fixed fee for contractor accountants in Barnes, agreed in writing before any work starts and never changed part-way through the job, however long it takes us.

We work to the HMRC and Companies House calendar, not an appointment diary. Clients in Barnes get reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days before each date that applies to contractor accountants.

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

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

We explain contractor accountants in the words Barnes business owners use, not in accountant's shorthand, and we show our working so you can check it.

You stay in control of contractor accountants: drafts go to Barnes clients first, with the figures explained, and nothing leaves us until you say so.

Local facts

About Barnes

Barnes is in South West London, within Richmond upon Thames, in the SW13 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
Mortlake and Barnes Common0.3 miS
Castelnau0.6 miNE
Chiswick Homefields0.7 miN
Mortlake0.9 miW
East Sheen1 miSW
Chiswick Riverside1 miNW
Riverside, Hammersmith and Fulham1 miE
West Putney1 miSE

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

You can switch accountant at any point in the year. The new firm requests clearance and your records from the old one, which cannot withhold your own documents though it may hold its own working papers until its fees are settled. Agent authorisations with HMRC and Companies House are transferred, and the next deadline is picked up without a gap.

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

Companies formed to protect a name or hold a future business are dormant but not exempt: Companies House still expects dormant accounts within nine months of the year end and a confirmation statement annually with its £50 fee, and HMRC must be told the company is dormant or it will demand Corporation Tax returns. The filings are short, but the penalties for missing them are the same as for a trading company.

Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment

Every employer must assess its workers for automatic enrolment from the first employee's start date. Those aged 22 to State Pension age earning over £10,000 a year must be enrolled into a qualifying pension with minimum contributions of 8% of qualifying earnings, at least 3% from the employer, and a declaration of compliance made to the Pensions Regulator within five months.

Employer National Insurance

Since April 2025 employer National Insurance has been 15% on earnings above a £5,000 secondary threshold, a substantial increase for small employers. The Employment Allowance rose to £10,500 at the same time to soften it for the smallest businesses. Directors deciding their own salary weigh this cost against the Corporation Tax deduction a salary provides.

Allowable expenses

An expense is allowable against trading profit if it is incurred wholly and exclusively for the business. Materials, business travel other than ordinary commuting, a proportion of home running costs, software, insurance, professional fees, bank charges and protective clothing qualify. Client entertainment, ordinary clothing, fines and the private share of mixed-use costs do not.

Questions

Contractor Accountants questions from Barnes

Do I need business insurance?

Most client contracts require professional indemnity and public liability cover, and employer's liability is a legal requirement if the company employs anyone other than the director. Insurance is not something we sell, but we tell you what your contracts require and the premiums are deductible for Corporation Tax.

I am about to leave permanent employment to contract. Where do I start?

With the company formation and the first contract review. Our £99 formation-plus-registrations package sets up the company with Corporation Tax and PAYE registered; the IR35 review of your first engagement decides how the income will be taxed. Join the Essential package from the month you start invoicing.

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.

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.

Is contractor accountants in Barnes really the same price as elsewhere?

Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Barnes pays and what a client in any other part of England pays. It is confirmed in writing before work starts and the invoice matches the quote. Where a higher package applies because your situation is more complex, we say so at the quote stage, never afterwards.

Do you have an office in Barnes?

No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Barnes and every other UK postcode remotely, with records sent by WhatsApp or email and everything filed electronically. The absence of local premises is why the fee for contractor accountants is the same in Barnes as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.

Start the conversation from Barnes

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