Contractor Accountants · South West
Contractor accountants in Dorchester
Contractor accountants for Dorchester 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 Dorchester
Contractors and interim professionals in Dorchester 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 Dorchester, 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 Dorchester
The price for contractor accountants is published on this page and is what a client in Dorchester pays. We confirm it in writing first, and the invoice matches the quote.
Nothing for Dorchester 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.
Online only, UK based. There is no office in Dorchester 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 contractor accountants, not a queue. Dorchester clients message the same person throughout and get an answer in working hours, usually within a few hours.
The output for Dorchester 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 Dorchester 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 Dorchester
Dorchester is in South West, in the DT1 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fordington | 0.3 mi | E |
| Northernhay, South West | 0.4 mi | NW |
| Coker's Frome | 0.6 mi | NE |
| Frome Whitfield | 0.8 mi | N |
| Poundbury | 0.8 mi | NW |
| Burton, Dorset | 0.9 mi | NW |
| Victoria Park, Dorset | 1.0 mi | W |
| Stinsford | 1 mi | NE |
Worth knowing
Rules that come up in this work
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.
Switching accountants
The main reasons people switch accountant are surprise invoices, missed deadlines and not understanding what they are being told. Switching involves a clearance letter between the firms, a transfer of records and agent authorisations, and a short handover of the current position. It takes about two weeks and should cost nothing extra.
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.
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
Employers pay National Insurance at 15% on each employee's earnings above the £5,000 secondary threshold, following the April 2025 changes. The Employment Allowance offsets up to £10,500 of this for eligible employers, which for a small team often removes the liability entirely, but companies where the director is the only employee do not qualify.
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 Dorchester
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.
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.
Is contractor accountants in Dorchester really the same price as elsewhere?
Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Dorchester 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 Dorchester?
No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Dorchester 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 Dorchester as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.
Fixed fees, filed on time, for Dorchester
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.