Bookkeeping · North East
Bookkeeping services in Low Benwell
Tidy books are the difference between a cheap year end and an expensive one. We keep the records for Low Benwell businesses current every month: bank transactions matched, receipts captured by photo, VAT coded correctly, and a short summary of where you stand. The fee is fixed by volume and agreed before we start.
from £49/mo · fixed, per month
Next deadlines
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- MTD quarterly update deadline (7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May)
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
Who this is for
Bookkeeping for Low Benwell
Sole traders, partnerships and limited companies in Low Benwell with anything from a dozen to a few hundred bank transactions a month: trades, consultants, online sellers, cafes and shops, landlords with several properties, and anyone approaching the VAT threshold or Making Tax Digital for Income Tax who needs digital records kept properly.
What is included
Everything inside the fixed fee
- Cloud accounting software set up with bank feeds for every business account and card
- Every transaction categorised and reconciled each month, with queries sent to you in one batch
- Receipt and invoice capture by photo or email forwarding, matched to the bank
- Sales invoices, supplier bills and VAT coding kept current and Making Tax Digital-ready
- A monthly position summary: income, costs, cash, what you owe HMRC so far
- Year-end handover to our accounts team or your own accountant with no re-work
How it works
Bookkeeping from Low Benwell, 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
What you get in Low Benwell
No hourly rate and no surprise invoice. Low Benwell clients know the fee for bookkeeping before they send a single document, and it stays fixed.
Deadline-first: the dates that matter for bookkeeping are shown at the top of this page, diarised for every Low Benwell client and chased before they arrive.
Online only, UK based. There is no office in Low Benwell 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 bookkeeping, not a queue. Low Benwell 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 Low Benwell 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 bookkeeping in Low Benwell, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.
Local facts
About Low Benwell
Low Benwell is in North East, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Benwell, Low | 0.0 mi | N |
| Fawdon, North East | 0.2 mi | SW |
| Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne | 0.2 mi | SE |
| Benwell, South | 0.5 mi | W |
| South Benwell | 0.5 mi | W |
| Paradise, Newcastle upon Tyne | 0.7 mi | W |
| Arthur's Hill | 0.8 mi | NE |
| Milvain | 0.8 mi | N |
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.
Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment
Workplace pension compliance is part of payroll, not separate from it. Each pay period the payroll assesses who is eligible, calculates employer and employee contributions on qualifying earnings between the lower and upper thresholds, and sends the contribution file to the scheme. The minimum total is 8%, and many employers choose to contribute more as a recruitment advantage.
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.
The trading and property allowances
Not every small income needs a tax return. The trading allowance exempts the first £1,000 of self-employment or casual income and the property allowance does the same for rental income, each measured on gross receipts. They cannot be combined with rent-a-room relief on the same income, and claiming the allowance means giving up the expense deduction for that source.
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 60-day property CGT return
Selling UK residential property that was not your main home for the whole period of ownership triggers a separate Capital Gains Tax return, due within 60 days of completion along with payment of the tax. This is in addition to the annual Self Assessment. The gain is taxed at 18% or 24% depending on your income band, after the £3,000 annual exempt amount.
Questions
Bookkeeping questions from Low Benwell
How quickly are the books up to date?
Bank feeds update daily. We reconcile within five working days of the month end once your receipts are in, so the monthly summary arrives in the first week of the following month. Queries are sent in one message rather than piecemeal.
Can my existing accountant still do the year end?
Yes. Many clients use us for bookkeeping and another firm for accounts. At year end we hand over a reconciled file with the trial balance, bank reconciliations and supporting documents, in whatever format your accountant prefers.
Is bookkeeping the same as accounts?
No. Bookkeeping is the ongoing recording and reconciling of transactions. Accounts and tax returns are the year-end filings built from those records. Clean bookkeeping makes the year-end work faster and cheaper, which is why our sole trader accounts fee from tidy records is £149 and from a shoebox is £249.
What do I have to do each month?
Forward or photograph receipts and supplier bills as they arrive, and answer one batch of queries from us about transactions we cannot identify. Most clients spend under an hour a month. Sales invoices can be raised in the software by you or by us.
Which software do you use and who pays for it?
We work in the main cloud platforms that are compatible with Making Tax Digital and set up the one that suits your business. The subscription is in your name and billed to you by the software company, typically £15 to £35 a month, so you own the data and can leave at any time with your records intact.
How do you count transactions for the fee?
Every line on your business bank and card statements for the month, including payments in and out. Transfers between your own accounts are excluded. Up to 50 lines is £49 a month, up to 150 is £89, up to 300 is £149. We check the count from your statements before quoting so the band is right from the start.
How do I get started from Low Benwell?
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 bookkeeping. Once you confirm, we tell you exactly which records to send and the work begins. Most Low Benwell clients are set up within a day.
Which deadlines matter most for bookkeeping?
The next four dates that apply to bookkeeping are shown at the top of this page, calculated from today. For Low Benwell 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.
Start the conversation from Low Benwell
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.