Freelancer Accountants · East London
Freelancer accountants in Brick Lane
Designers, developers, writers, consultants, photographers and every other kind of freelancer in Brick Lane use us because the service matches how they work: online, monthly, with the records kept as they go and the tax position visible all year. Across East London the fee is the same, and nothing is filed until you approve it.
from £45/mo · fixed, per month
Next deadlines
- Online Self Assessment filing deadline and balancing payment due
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: quarterly updates for sole traders and landlords over £50,000 (from April 2026) and over £30,000 (from April 2027)
- Second payment on account due
- Companies House accounts due 9 months after your year end (a 31 December year end files by 30 September)
Who this is for
Freelancer Accountants for Brick Lane
Freelancers and independent professionals in Brick Lane: designers, developers, writers and editors, marketers, photographers and videographers, consultants, translators, musicians and performers, tutors and coaches, whether trading as a sole trader, through a limited company, or still deciding, and whether full time or alongside employment.
What is included
Everything inside the fixed fee
- Monthly bookkeeping from your bank feed with invoices and expenses captured by phone
- Self Assessment with the self-employment pages for sole trader freelancers, or accounts, CT600 and payroll for company freelancers
- Expense review for the costs freelancers miss: home office, equipment, software, subscriptions, training, travel
- Payments on account and a monthly set-aside figure so the January bill is never a surprise
- Making Tax Digital readiness and quarterly updates when your income reaches the threshold
- A going-freelance starter session covering structure, registration, pricing for tax and what to keep
How it works
Freelancer Accountants from Brick Lane, step by step
Tell us your situation
A short message or call about what you do and what needs filing. We ask the questions that determine the right package and nothing more.
Fixed fee in writing
You receive one price for the work, confirmed by email before anything starts. It does not change if the job takes longer than we expected.
Send records, review the draft
Records come by WhatsApp or email. We prepare the draft, explain the figures in plain English and answer your questions.
We file, you get the receipts
Once you approve and the fee is settled, we submit electronically and forward the HMRC or Companies House acknowledgement the same day.
Why IGI
The IGI way of working, in Brick Lane
No hourly rate and no surprise invoice. Brick Lane clients know the fee for freelancer accountants before they send a single document, and it stays fixed.
We work to the HMRC and Companies House calendar, not an appointment diary. Clients in Brick Lane get reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days before each date that applies to freelancer accountants.
We serve Brick Lane remotely by design: records by WhatsApp or email, drafts back for approval, filing electronic. The saving on premises is passed to you in the fee for freelancer accountants.
A named person handles your freelancer accountants from Brick Lane and knows the file, so you are not re-explaining your business to a different helpdesk each time.
Plain English, with the numbers. Every draft for Brick Lane comes with a short explanation of what the figures mean and what, if anything, you should do about them.
You stay in control of freelancer accountants: drafts go to Brick Lane clients first, with the figures explained, and nothing leaves us until you say so.
Local facts
About Brick Lane
Brick Lane is in East London, within Tower Hamlets, in the E1 postcode district, England. Income tax in England follows the UK rates: 20% basic to £50,270, 40% higher to £125,140 and 45% additional, with the personal allowance of £12,570 tapered away above £100,000. National Insurance, VAT and Corporation Tax are UK-wide, and Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to property purchases.
| Place | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Spitalfields and Banglatown | 0.0 mi | N |
| Spitalfields | 0.2 mi | W |
| Whitechapel | 0.3 mi | E |
| Portsoken | 0.4 mi | SW |
| Aldgate, City of London | 0.4 mi | SW |
| Bishopsgate, City of London | 0.4 mi | W |
| Broadgate, City of London | 0.4 mi | W |
| Weavers | 0.5 mi | N |
Worth knowing
Rules that come up in this work
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.
Closing a company
Striking off a company is cheap but must be done in order: stop trading, file the final accounts and CT600, pay the tax, close VAT and PAYE, distribute the remaining assets, close the bank account, then apply. Anything left in the company at dissolution passes to the Crown. Distributions up to £25,000 are taxed as capital gains; above that a formal liquidation is usually needed to keep capital treatment.
Crypto records and reporting
Most crypto holders have taxable events they do not recognise, because every swap is a disposal even when no pounds change hands. The computation requires the complete transaction history from every exchange and wallet, pooled by asset with HMRC's matching rules applied. Exchange-generated tax reports are frequently wrong because they cannot see transfers between a user's own wallets.
The 60-day property CGT return
Selling UK residential property that was not your main home for the whole period of ownership triggers a separate Capital Gains Tax return, due within 60 days of completion along with payment of the tax. This is in addition to the annual Self Assessment. The gain is taxed at 18% or 24% depending on your income band, after the £3,000 annual exempt amount.
Record keeping
HMRC requires records of all income and expenses, bank statements, invoices and receipts to be kept for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline of the tax year they relate to, and companies must keep records for six years from the end of the accounting period. Digital copies are acceptable. Under Making Tax Digital the records must be kept in compatible software.
Allowable expenses
Expense claims are where a return is won or lost in an enquiry. The test is wholly and exclusively for the trade; where a cost is mixed, the business proportion can be claimed if it can be identified. Capital items such as equipment and vans are relieved through capital allowances rather than as expenses, except under the cash basis where they are simply deducted when paid.
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.
Questions
Freelancer Accountants questions from Brick Lane
Do I need to register for VAT?
Only when your taxable turnover in any rolling 12 months exceeds £90,000, or voluntarily before that. Many freelancers with business clients register voluntarily to reclaim VAT on equipment; those with consumer clients usually wait. We monitor your rolling turnover and advise before the threshold is reached.
How do you handle irregular and overseas income?
Irregular income is normal for freelancers and the monthly summary shows the year-to-date position so lean months are planned for. Overseas clients are invoiced without UK VAT in most cases, and any foreign tax withheld can usually be credited against your UK liability. Both are handled within the package.
What is the starter session?
A £99 video call before or soon after you go freelance, covering the sole trader versus company decision, registration with HMRC, how to price so that tax is covered, what records to keep and how, invoicing and payment terms, and the dates that matter. You come away with a written plan. If you then join a monthly package the £99 is credited.
Does Making Tax Digital apply to freelancers?
If your gross self-employment plus property income was over £50,000 in 2024/25 you joined MTD for Income Tax in April 2026; over £30,000 means April 2027; over £20,000 is planned for April 2028. It means digital records and quarterly updates. Our monthly package keeps the records in the right form and submits the updates.
Can I claim for my laptop and camera?
Yes. Equipment used for the business qualifies for capital allowances, usually the annual investment allowance giving full relief in the year of purchase, restricted for private use. Under the cash basis equipment is simply an expense when paid. Items bought before you started can be brought in at market value.
I have a job and freelance on the side. How does that work?
Your employment is taxed through PAYE and your freelance profit is added on top through Self Assessment, usually at your marginal rate. If freelance income is under £1,000 the trading allowance means no return is needed. Above that, register by 5 October after the tax year you started. Our package covers the whole return including the employment pages.
Do you have an office in Brick Lane?
No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Brick Lane 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 freelancer accountants is the same in Brick Lane as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.
Is freelancer accountants in Brick Lane really the same price as elsewhere?
Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Brick Lane 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.
One message from Brick Lane, one fixed price
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.