E-commerce Accountants · North West
E-commerce accountants in Lancaster
If your Lancaster business sells through marketplaces, your own store or both, the hard part is not the bookkeeping, it is the VAT: when the marketplace accounts for it, when you do, how imports are treated, what happens with EU customers. We handle this for sellers across North West and the £149 health check finds the errors before HMRC does.
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 Lancaster
Online sellers in Lancaster: 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 Lancaster, 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
What you get in Lancaster
No hourly rate and no surprise invoice. Lancaster clients know the fee for e-commerce 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 Lancaster get reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days before each date that applies to e-commerce accountants.
We serve Lancaster 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 e-commerce accountants.
A named person handles your e-commerce accountants from Lancaster and knows the file, so you are not re-explaining your business to a different helpdesk each time.
We explain e-commerce accountants in the words Lancaster business owners use, not in accountant's shorthand, and we show our working so you can check it.
Nothing is filed for Lancaster 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 Lancaster
Lancaster is in North West, in the LA1 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bulk | 0.4 mi | NE |
| Freehold | 0.5 mi | E |
| Primrose, Lancaster | 0.6 mi | SE |
| Newton, Lancaster | 0.6 mi | NE |
| Haverbreaks | 0.7 mi | S |
| Abraham Heights | 0.7 mi | SW |
| Greaves, The | 0.7 mi | S |
| The Greaves | 0.7 mi | S |
Worth knowing
Rules that come up in this work
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.
CIS deductions
The Construction Industry Scheme affects both sides of a construction payment. Contractors must verify subcontractors, deduct the right amount, issue statements and file monthly, with penalties from £100 for each late return. Subcontractors suffer deductions on turnover and recover the excess at the year end. Limited company subcontractors offset deductions against PAYE monthly instead.
Salary versus dividends
Directors of their own companies usually take a salary at or just above the National Insurance thresholds, which keeps the year qualifying for State Pension and is deductible for Corporation Tax, with further income as dividends. Dividends above the £500 allowance are taxed at 10.75%, 35.75% and 39.35% by band and can only be paid from distributable profits after tax, with a minute and voucher each time.
Director's loan accounts
Money taken from a company has to be something: salary, dividend, expense reimbursement or loan. If it is a loan and remains outstanding nine months after the year end, the company pays tax at the dividend higher rate on it until it is repaid. Clearing the balance with a properly declared dividend before the deadline, where reserves allow, is routine year-end work.
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.
Corporation Tax rates and marginal relief
Since April 2023 there have been two Corporation Tax rates, 19% small profits and 25% main, with marginal relief smoothing the transition between £50,000 and £250,000 of profit. The band is where planning matters: each pound of profit in it is taxed at an effective 26.5%, so pension contributions and capital expenditure timed to keep profit below £50,000 are worth more than they look.
Late filing penalties
Penalties are the clearest reason to work to deadlines. A Self Assessment return one day late costs £100 regardless of whether any tax is due; three months late adds £10 a day. Late company accounts start at £150 and reach £1,500, and double if the previous year was also late. None of this is negotiable afterwards except through a narrow reasonable-excuse appeal.
Questions
E-commerce Accountants questions from Lancaster
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 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.
Do I need to register for VAT if the marketplace collects it?
Marketplace-collected VAT does not count towards your registration threshold, but your other sales do. Many sellers have a mix and cross the £90,000 threshold without realising. We monitor your rolling 12-month taxable turnover monthly and tell you when registration is approaching.
Should I trade as a sole trader or a company?
Many sellers start as sole traders and incorporate as profits grow. A company protects personal assets from supplier and platform disputes, and can be more tax efficient at higher profits, but adds compliance. Marketplaces also treat business accounts differently. We run the comparison for your numbers.
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.
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.
Do you have an office in Lancaster?
No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Lancaster 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 e-commerce accountants is the same in Lancaster as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.
Is e-commerce accountants in Lancaster really the same price as elsewhere?
Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Lancaster 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.
Ready to fix your fee in Lancaster?
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.