Accounting

Startup Accountants · Central London

Startup accountants in London

Startup accounting for new companies in London: the Launch package at £59 a month forms the company, registers it with HMRC and files the first accounts; Grow at £99 adds bookkeeping and VAT; Scale at £149 adds payroll and management accounts. Fixed and published, the same in London as in any part of England.

from £59/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
  • Confirmation statement due within 14 days of your review date, at least once every 12 months

Who this is for

Startup Accountants for London

New and early-stage companies in London: founders incorporating for the first time, technology and product startups preparing to raise seed investment, service businesses moving from side project to full time, two or three co-founders who need the equity and payroll structured properly, and companies in their first two years who set up alone and want it done properly now.

What is included

Everything inside the fixed fee

  • Company formation and HMRC registrations in the Launch package, or a review of what has already been set up
  • Cloud bookkeeping configured for a growing business, with bank feeds and expense capture from day one
  • Annual accounts and Corporation Tax return, with first-period and long-period rules handled
  • VAT registration timing advised and quarterly returns run in the Grow and Scale packages
  • Payroll for founders and first hires, with auto-enrolment, in the Scale package
  • SEIS and EIS advance assurance applications prepared for founders raising investment

How it works

Startup Accountants from London, 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 London

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

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

No appointments, no travel across Central London, no parking. Everything for startup accountants in London happens online, with a real person on the other end during UK working hours.

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

The output for London 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 startup accountants.

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

Local facts

About London

London is in Central London, within Westminster, in the WC2N 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 startup accountants
PlaceDistanceDirection
Charing Cross, Westminster0.1 miSE
Whitehall, Westminster0.1 miSW
Chinatown0.3 miNW
Covent Garden0.3 miNE
Seven Dials0.4 miN
Aldwych0.4 miNE
Piccadilly, Westminster0.4 miW
St James's0.5 miW

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

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.

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

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.

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

Startup Accountants questions from London

What is SEIS/EIS advance assurance and do I need it?

Investors in qualifying early-stage companies get income tax relief of 50% (SEIS) or 30% (EIS) and capital gains exemptions, which makes raising much easier. Advance assurance is HMRC's confirmation in principle that your company qualifies, and most angel investors insist on it. Our £299 service prepares and submits the application.

What are the SEIS limits?

A company can raise up to £250,000 under SEIS within the first three years of trading, with gross assets under £350,000 and fewer than 25 employees. EIS allows up to £5 million a year and £12 million in total, for companies under seven years old with fewer than 250 employees. Trading activities must qualify; some are excluded.

When are a new company's first filings due?

The first confirmation statement is due within 14 days of the first anniversary of incorporation. The first accounts are due 21 months after incorporation. Corporation Tax is due nine months and one day after the first accounting period ends, and the first period is often longer than a year, which creates two CT600s. We handle the split.

Can I claim startup costs incurred before incorporation?

Yes. Pre-trading expenses incurred up to seven years before the company started trading, which would have been deductible if incurred while trading, are treated as incurred on the first day of trading. Keep the receipts. Equipment you bring in can be transferred to the company at market value.

What does the £59 Launch package include?

Company formation with the Companies House £100 fee passed on separately, Corporation Tax and PAYE registration, a registered office if you want one, cloud software set up, the first confirmation statement and the first set of accounts and CT600 filed. It is for founders who will keep their own books in the early months.

When do I need Grow or Scale?

Grow at £99 adds monthly bookkeeping and quarterly VAT returns, and suits most startups once transactions and VAT registration arrive. Scale at £149 adds payroll for founders and first hires with auto-enrolment, plus quarterly management accounts for the board or investors. You can move between packages at any month end.

Which deadlines matter most for startup accountants?

The next four dates that apply to startup accountants are shown at the top of this page, calculated from today. For London 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 London?

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 startup accountants. Once you confirm, we tell you exactly which records to send and the work begins. Most London clients are set up within a day.

Ready to fix your fee in London?

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