Accounting

E-commerce Accountants · West Midlands

E-commerce accountants in Lichfield

E-commerce accountants for Lichfield sellers who want the payouts to reconcile and the VAT return to be right first time. Channel integrations post sales and fees automatically, inventory is accounted for properly in the top package, and the year-end accounts tie back to the marketplace reports. Online, fixed-fee, with nothing filed until you approve.

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 Lichfield

Online sellers in Lichfield: 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 Lichfield, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. Agree the price

    The fee is confirmed in writing. There is no hourly billing and nothing added for questions during the work.

  3. 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.

  4. 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

Why Lichfield businesses file with IGI

The price for e-commerce accountants is published on this page and is what a client in Lichfield pays. We confirm it in writing first, and the invoice matches the quote.

Nothing for Lichfield is left to the last week. Each deadline relevant to e-commerce 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 Lichfield 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. Lichfield 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 Lichfield 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 Lichfield, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.

Local facts

About Lichfield

Lichfield is in West Midlands, in the WS13 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.

Nearby places we also serve for e-commerce accountants
PlaceDistanceDirection
Stowe, Lichfield0.6 miNE
Christ Church Gardens0.6 miN
Leyfields, West Midlands0.6 miN
Ponesfields0.6 miN
Leomansley0.7 miSW
Nether Stowe0.8 miNE
Stowe, Nether0.8 miNE
Leamonsley0.8 miSW

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

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

The salary-and-dividend split is the central planning decision for an owner-managed company. Salary costs employer National Insurance above £5,000 but is deductible; dividends are not deductible but attract lower personal rates and no National Insurance. The optimum changes each April with the thresholds and depends on the director's other income, so it should be set deliberately every year.

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.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

The biggest change to Self Assessment in a generation is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, now live for higher-earning sole traders and landlords and arriving for the rest in stages. Quarterly updates are due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, built from digital records. The practical consequence is that spreadsheet-and-shoebox bookkeeping is ending for anyone above the threshold.

Late filing penalties

HMRC's penalties for a late Self Assessment return are automatic: £100 the day after 31 January, £10 a day from three months late up to £900, then the greater of £300 or 5% of the tax at six and twelve months. Interest and separate late-payment penalties apply to the tax itself. Companies House charges £150 to £1,500 for late accounts, doubling for a second consecutive year.

Payments on account

A common surprise in Self Assessment is the January payment that is far larger than expected. That is the balancing payment for the year just ended plus the first payment on account for the year ahead, which HMRC sets at half of the bill just calculated. We put the figure in your hands months ahead and tell you how to adjust it legitimately when circumstances change.

Questions

E-commerce Accountants questions from Lichfield

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 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.

When do I need the inventory package?

When you hold meaningful stock. Without inventory accounting, the cost of goods purchased is expensed when bought, which distorts profit between periods and misstates the balance sheet. The £179 package tracks stock, calculates cost of sales and values closing stock, which lenders, investors and HMRC all expect from a stock-holding business.

I sell to EU customers. What VAT applies?

Since 2021 sales of goods to EU consumers are exports from the UK, zero-rated here, with EU VAT due in the customer's country. The EU's Import One Stop Shop lets you account for consignments under €150 through one registration. Above that, local registration or the customer paying on delivery. We advise on the right route for your volumes.

Is e-commerce accountants in Lichfield really the same price as elsewhere?

Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Lichfield 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 Lichfield?

No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Lichfield 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 Lichfield as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.

Start the conversation from Lichfield

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