E-commerce Accountants · East London
E-commerce accountants in Bow West
Selling online from Bow West produces more accounting events per pound of turnover than almost any other business: fees, refunds, reserves, currency conversions, VAT collected by the marketplace on some sales and by you on others. We reconcile all of it from the channel reports every month and keep the VAT right. Fixed monthly fee, agreed in writing.
from £79/mo · fixed, per month
Next deadlines
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- Online Self Assessment filing deadline and balancing payment due
Who this is for
E-commerce Accountants for Bow West
Online sellers in Bow West: marketplace traders on one or several platforms, brands selling through their own store, dropshippers, subscription box businesses, sellers importing stock from overseas, UK sellers with EU or international customers, and businesses approaching or past the £90,000 VAT threshold who need the registration and returns handled correctly.
What is included
Everything inside the fixed fee
- Sales, fees, refunds and payouts reconciled per channel from marketplace and payment-processor reports
- VAT handled correctly for UK sales, marketplace-collected VAT, imports, EU and overseas customers
- Inventory accounting with cost of sales and stock valuation in the top package
- Cloud software integrated with your channels so transactions post automatically
- Annual accounts and Corporation Tax or Self Assessment, with the figures tying back to channel reports
- Marketplace VAT health check: a one-off review of your registrations and settings against the rules
How it works
E-commerce Accountants from Bow West, step by step
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.
Agree the price
The fee is confirmed in writing. There is no hourly billing and nothing added for questions during the work.
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.
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 Bow West
No hourly rate and no surprise invoice. Bow West clients know the fee for e-commerce accountants before they send a single document, and it stays fixed.
Deadline-first: the dates that matter for e-commerce accountants are shown at the top of this page, diarised for every Bow West client and chased before they arrive.
Online only, UK based. There is no office in Bow West to pay for, which is why the fee is the same here as anywhere in England; the work is done by people in the UK who answer the same day.
You get one contact for e-commerce accountants, not a queue. Bow West clients message the same person throughout and get an answer in working hours, usually within a few hours.
Plain English, with the numbers. Every draft for Bow West comes with a short explanation of what the figures mean and what, if anything, you should do about them.
Approval before filing is a rule, not a courtesy. For e-commerce accountants in Bow West, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.
Local facts
About Bow West
Bow West is in East London, within Tower Hamlets, in the E3 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.
| Place | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Globe Town | 0.3 mi | W |
| Bow, Tower Hamlets | 0.4 mi | E |
| Mile End, Tower Hamlets | 0.4 mi | S |
| Old Ford | 0.5 mi | NE |
| Victoria Park, Hackney | 0.5 mi | N |
| Mile End and Globe Town | 0.5 mi | SW |
| East London | 0.6 mi | S |
| Bow East | 0.6 mi | NE |
Worth knowing
Rules that come up in this work
CIS deductions
CIS turns construction subcontractors into advance taxpayers: a fifth of every labour payment goes to HMRC before they see it. Registering keeps the rate at 20% rather than 30%; gross payment status, for established businesses with a clean record, removes deductions altogether. The annual return is where the overpayment comes back, and filing it early brings the refund sooner.
Confirmation statements and identity verification
The confirmation statement is the annual check that the public register is right: officers, registered office, SIC codes, shareholders and the PSC register. It carries a £50 fee and no financial penalty for lateness, but failure to file leads to compulsory strike-off. The identity verification regime introduced in November 2025 has added a further check to every statement.
Corporation Tax rates and marginal relief
Corporation Tax is not a flat rate. Profits to £50,000 pay 19%, profits above £250,000 pay 25%, and the band between is taxed at an effective marginal rate of 26.5% through the marginal relief mechanism. Associated companies share the thresholds, which catches directors who own more than one company and is the most common cause of underpaid tax in owner-managed groups.
The VAT registration threshold
Watching the rolling twelve-month turnover figure is one of the quiet jobs of monthly bookkeeping, because the £90,000 VAT threshold arrives silently. Crossing it brings quarterly returns, Making Tax Digital software and a decision about schemes. Crossing it late brings a bill for VAT you could not recover from customers and a penalty for failing to notify.
Director's loan accounts
The most common tax problem in owner-managed companies is an overdrawn director's loan account: drawings taken during the year that were never declared as dividends or salary. The company faces a 35.75% charge on the balance outstanding nine months after the year end, and the director may have a benefit in kind. We review the account before every year end to clear it properly.
Salary versus dividends
Paying yourself from a company involves two routes with different tax treatment. Salary through payroll is a company expense and builds a National Insurance record; dividends come from post-tax profit at lower personal rates. Undocumented drawings that are neither become director's loans, with a 35.75% section 455 charge if not repaid within nine months of the year end.
Payments on account
Payments on account catch out most people in their second year of self-employment. HMRC assumes next year's tax will match this year's and collects half in January and half in July, in advance, on top of the balancing payment. If profits are dropping you can apply to reduce them, but reducing them too far attracts interest. We calculate the right figure rather than guessing.
Questions
E-commerce Accountants questions from Bow West
How do refunds and returns affect my VAT and accounts?
A refund reverses the sale and the VAT on it in the period the refund is made, not the original sale. Returned stock goes back into inventory at cost. Marketplace reports show these separately and we reconcile them so that both the VAT return and the profit figure reflect actual net sales.
Can you handle multiple currencies?
Yes. Sales in foreign currencies are converted at the rate on the transaction date for the accounts and at HMRC's published rates for VAT, and the difference between those and what actually lands in your bank is recorded as exchange gain or loss. The software handles this once configured correctly.
How are imports treated?
Import VAT is charged when goods enter the UK and can be reclaimed as input VAT if you are registered, using postponed VAT accounting so nothing is paid at the border. Customs duty depends on the goods and origin and is a cost, not reclaimable. We make sure the C79 or postponed accounting statements are matched to the return.
Who accounts for VAT on marketplace sales?
For goods sold to UK consumers through an online marketplace, the marketplace accounts for the VAT if the seller is overseas or the goods are imported in consignments up to £135. A UK seller selling UK-held goods to UK customers accounts for their own VAT. Mixed situations are common and we separate them on every return.
Why does e-commerce bookkeeping cost more than ordinary bookkeeping?
Because a single payout from a marketplace bundles hundreds of sales, fees, refunds, advertising charges and reserves, and each has a different VAT treatment. Reconciling the payout to the underlying report is the job. Our fee is fixed by channels and VAT status rather than by transaction count for exactly this reason.
What is in the £79 single-channel package?
Monthly bookkeeping reconciled to one marketplace or store's reports, software integration, and the annual accounts and tax return (Corporation Tax for a company or Self Assessment for a sole trader). It is for sellers under the £90,000 VAT threshold; once VAT registration is needed the £129 package applies.
How do I get started from Bow West?
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 e-commerce accountants. Once you confirm, we tell you exactly which records to send and the work begins. Most Bow West clients are set up within a day.
Which deadlines matter most for e-commerce accountants?
The next four dates that apply to e-commerce accountants are shown at the top of this page, calculated from today. For Bow West 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 Bow West
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.