Accounting

Bookkeeping · North London

Bookkeeping services in South Hampstead

Monthly bookkeeping for businesses in South Hampstead, done in cloud software with live bank feeds and priced by how many transactions you actually have. From £49 a month for up to 50 transactions, fixed and published, the same in South Hampstead as anywhere else in England. No hourly rates and no office to visit.

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 South Hampstead

Sole traders, partnerships and limited companies in South Hampstead 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 South Hampstead, 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

The IGI way of working, in South Hampstead

One fixed fee for bookkeeping in South Hampstead, agreed in writing before any work starts and never changed part-way through the job, however long it takes us.

Nothing for South Hampstead is left to the last week. Each deadline relevant to bookkeeping is tracked from the day you join, with the next four shown on every page we send you.

We serve South Hampstead 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 bookkeeping.

A named person handles your bookkeeping from South Hampstead and knows the file, so you are not re-explaining your business to a different helpdesk each time.

The output for South Hampstead 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 bookkeeping.

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

Local facts

About South Hampstead

South Hampstead is in North London, within Camden, in the NW6 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 bookkeeping
PlaceDistanceDirection
Swiss Cottage0.2 miNE
Abbey Road0.4 miS
West Hampstead0.6 miNW
Belsize, Camden0.6 miNE
St John's Wood0.7 miS
Camden0.7 miE
Kingsland, Camden0.7 miSE
Primrose Hill, Camden0.7 miE

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

Confirmation statements and identity verification

Companies House has tightened its requirements under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act: every company needs a registered email address and an appropriate registered office, every statement includes a lawful-purpose declaration, and every director and PSC must verify their identity. The confirmation statement, due annually with a £50 fee, is where most of this is confirmed.

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.

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.

Closing a company

Voluntary strike-off is available only to solvent companies. One that owes money it cannot pay needs a creditors' voluntary liquidation through a licensed insolvency practitioner, and directors who dissolve an insolvent company face personal consequences. For a solvent company the process takes three to four months from filing the DS01, with notice to creditors and shareholders within seven days.

Record keeping

HMRC requires records of all income and expenses, bank statements, invoices and receipts to be kept for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline of the tax year they relate to, and companies must keep records for six years from the end of the accounting period. Digital copies are acceptable. Under Making Tax Digital the records must be kept in compatible software.

Allowable expenses

An expense is allowable against trading profit if it is incurred wholly and exclusively for the business. Materials, business travel other than ordinary commuting, a proportion of home running costs, software, insurance, professional fees, bank charges and protective clothing qualify. Client entertainment, ordinary clothing, fines and the private share of mixed-use costs do not.

The Self Assessment calendar

Four dates govern Self Assessment: 5 October to register, 31 October for paper returns, 31 January to file online and pay, and 31 July for the second payment on account. Missing the January date triggers an automatic £100 penalty before any tax is even considered, so we treat it as the fixed point around which the rest of the year is planned.

Questions

Bookkeeping questions from South Hampstead

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 South Hampstead 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 South Hampstead?

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 South Hampstead clients are set up within a day.

One message from South Hampstead, 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