Accounting

Contractor Accountants · South East London

Contractor accountants in Copers Cope

Contractor accounting for limited company contractors in Copers Cope: accounts, Corporation Tax, monthly payroll and dividend paperwork from £75 a month, with VAT and bookkeeping at £105 and the full package including your Self Assessment at £125. Fixed, published, the same in Copers Cope as in every part of England.

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 Copers Cope

Contractors and interim professionals in Copers Cope 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 Copers Cope, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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

What you get in Copers Cope

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

Deadline-first: the dates that matter for contractor accountants are shown at the top of this page, diarised for every Copers Cope client and chased before they arrive.

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

You get one contact for contractor accountants, not a queue. Copers Cope clients message the same person throughout and get an answer in working hours, usually within a few hours.

The output for Copers Cope 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.

Approval before filing is a rule, not a courtesy. For contractor accountants in Copers Cope, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.

Local facts

About Copers Cope

Copers Cope is in South East London, within Bromley, in the BR3 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.

Nearby places we also serve for contractor accountants
PlaceDistanceDirection
Beckenham0.6 miSW
Shortlands0.9 miSE
Lower Sydenham1 miNW
New Beckenham1 miNW
Southend, Lewisham1 miN
Penge and Cator1 miW
Elmers End1 miSW
Clock House1 miW

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Record keeping

Good records are the difference between a quick enquiry and a long one. For the self-employed, five years after the filing deadline; for companies, six years from the year end; for VAT, six years. Photographs of receipts, PDF statements and software exports all count. The requirement is to keep records, not paper, and a well-organised cloud folder satisfies it.

Questions

Contractor Accountants questions from Copers Cope

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 Copers Cope 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.

How do I get started from Copers Cope?

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 Copers Cope clients are set up within a day.

One message from Copers Cope, one fixed price

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