Accounting

Sole Trader Accounts · South East

Sole trader accounts in Old Buddington

If you trade as a sole trader in Old Buddington and your records are a bank statement and a bag of receipts, that is fine. We rebuild the year, tell you what you can claim, and produce accounts you can rely on. From £149 for the self-employed across South East, with monthly bookkeeping available if you would rather never have a shoebox again.

from £149 · fixed, per year

Next deadlines

  • Online Self Assessment filing deadline and balancing payment due
  • Tax year ends: last day for pension, ISA and dividend timing decisions
  • Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: quarterly updates for sole traders and landlords over £50,000 (from April 2026) and over £30,000 (from April 2027)
  • Second payment on account due

Who this is for

Sole Trader Accounts for Old Buddington

Self-employed people in Old Buddington trading in their own name: tradespeople, drivers and couriers, hairdressers and beauticians, consultants, creatives, market traders, therapists, tutors and anyone else running a business without a limited company, from a first-year side business to an established trade with a van, equipment and a few thousand transactions a year.

What is included

Everything inside the fixed fee

  • Income and expenditure account for the tax year or your accounting period, with a balance sheet where you want one
  • Every expense category reviewed for what is allowable, including home working, vehicles and the trading allowance
  • Capital allowances on equipment and vehicles, with the cash basis or accruals basis chosen to suit you
  • A plain-English summary: profit, tax and National Insurance due, payments on account and what to put aside
  • Figures prepared in the format the Self Assessment self-employment pages need
  • Records organised and stored so that an HMRC check can be answered quickly

How it works

Sole Trader Accounts from Old Buddington, 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

Why Old Buddington businesses file with IGI

One fixed fee for sole trader accounts in Old Buddington, agreed in writing before any work starts and never changed part-way through the job, however long it takes us.

Nothing for Old Buddington is left to the last week. Each deadline relevant to sole trader accounts is tracked from the day you join, with the next four shown on every page we send you.

No appointments, no travel across South East, no parking. Everything for sole trader accounts in Old Buddington happens online, with a real person on the other end during UK working hours.

You get one contact for sole trader accounts, not a queue. Old Buddington clients message the same person throughout and get an answer in working hours, usually within a few hours.

The output for Old Buddington 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 sole trader accounts.

Approval before filing is a rule, not a courtesy. For sole trader accounts in Old Buddington, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.

Local facts

About Old Buddington

Old Buddington is in South East, 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 sole trader accounts
PlaceDistanceDirection
Buddington, Old0.0 miN
Woolbeding0.8 miSW
Easebourne0.9 miSE
Eastshaw0.9 miNW
Lord's Common1 miN
Pound Common1 miNW
Midhurst1 miS
Stedham1 miSW

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.

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

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.

The VAT registration threshold

The £90,000 VAT threshold is measured over any twelve consecutive months, which is why a strong quarter can tip a business over unexpectedly. Registration must follow within thirty days of the end of the month the threshold was crossed. Below the threshold, voluntary registration is worth considering when customers are VAT-registered businesses and costs carry VAT.

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.

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.

Questions

Sole Trader Accounts questions from Old Buddington

Cash basis or accruals: which should I use?

Since April 2024 the cash basis is the default for sole traders and has no turnover limit; you record income when received and expenses when paid. Accruals matches income and costs to the period they relate to and suits businesses with stock, large debtors or losses to carry. We recommend one based on your figures and explain why.

What can I claim for working from home?

Either a proportion of actual household costs based on rooms and hours, or HMRC's simplified flat rate of £10 to £26 a month depending on hours worked at home. We calculate both and claim the higher. Mortgage interest, rent, council tax, utilities and insurance can all form part of the actual-cost method.

What is the difference between the £149 and £249 fees?

The £149 fee applies when your records are already organised: bookkeeping software, a spreadsheet that reconciles to the bank, or our own monthly bookkeeping. The £249 fee covers rebuilding the year from bank statements and loose receipts. We look at what you have before quoting so the fee is fixed from the start.

Do I need accounts as well as a tax return?

HMRC requires a profit figure on the self-employment pages, and the accounts are how that figure is produced and supported. Very small businesses can complete the three-line account on the return, but once turnover is meaningful, proper accounts protect you in an enquiry and show you how the business is actually doing. The £229 bundle includes both.

When does Making Tax Digital apply to me?

From April 2026 if your combined self-employment and property income was over £50,000 in 2024/25; from April 2027 if over £30,000; and planned for April 2028 if over £20,000. It means digital records and quarterly updates to HMRC. Our bookkeeping service handles it, and we tell you your start date as part of the accounts work.

What records do I have to keep?

Records of all sales and takings, all purchases and expenses, and bank statements, for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline of the relevant tax year. Digital copies are acceptable. Under Making Tax Digital the records must be kept in compatible software from your start date.

Do you have an office in Old Buddington?

No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Old Buddington 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 sole trader accounts is the same in Old Buddington as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.

Is sole trader accounts in Old Buddington really the same price as elsewhere?

Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Old Buddington 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.

One message from Old Buddington, one fixed price

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