Contractor Accountants · North West
Contractor accountants in Southport
IT, engineering, finance and healthcare contractors in Southport use us because the service is built for how they work: a company with one or two directors, income from a few clients a year, and an IR35 question on every new engagement. Fixed monthly packages across North West, with an IR35 contract review at £99 whenever you need one.
from £75/mo · fixed, per month
Next deadlines
- PAYE and National Insurance for last month paid to HMRC (electronic)
- PAYE and National Insurance for last month paid to HMRC (electronic)
- PAYE and National Insurance for last month paid to HMRC (electronic)
- Online Self Assessment filing deadline and balancing payment due
Who this is for
Contractor Accountants for Southport
Contractors and interim professionals in Southport working through their own limited company: IT and software contractors, engineers, project managers, interim finance staff, consultants, medical and allied health locums who have incorporated, and permanent employees about to go contracting who need the company set up and the first engagement reviewed.
What is included
Everything inside the fixed fee
- Statutory accounts and Corporation Tax return prepared and filed each year
- Director payroll run monthly with RTI submissions and the salary set at the efficient level
- Dividend vouchers and board minutes for every distribution, with the available reserves checked first
- Quarterly VAT returns and bookkeeping in the Plus and Complete packages
- Director's Self Assessment and an annual planning call in the Complete package
- IR35 status reviews of your contracts and working practices, with a written opinion
How it works
Contractor Accountants from Southport, step by step
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.
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.
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.
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 Southport
One fixed fee for contractor accountants in Southport, agreed in writing before any work starts and never changed part-way through the job, however long it takes us.
Nothing for Southport is left to the last week. Each deadline relevant to contractor accountants is tracked from the day you join, with the next four shown on every page we send you.
No appointments, no travel across North West, no parking. Everything for contractor accountants in Southport happens online, with a real person on the other end during UK working hours.
You get one contact for contractor accountants, not a queue. Southport clients message the same person throughout and get an answer in working hours, usually within a few hours.
The output for Southport 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 contractor accountants.
Approval before filing is a rule, not a courtesy. For contractor accountants in Southport, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.
Local facts
About Southport
Southport is in North West, in the PR9 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.
| Place | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Meols Cop Station | 1 mi | E |
| Blowick | 1 mi | E |
| Highpark | 2 mi | E |
| Bank Nook | 2 mi | NE |
| Marshside, Sefton | 2 mi | NE |
| St. Lukes, Sefton | 2 mi | E |
| Churchtown, Sefton | 2 mi | E |
| Hillside, Sefton | 2 mi | SW |
Worth knowing
Rules that come up in this work
Switching accountants
Changing accountant is simpler than most people fear. You authorise the new firm, which writes to the old one for professional clearance and your records; the outgoing accountant must hand over your own documents and usually does within two weeks. The new firm registers as your agent with HMRC and picks up the next filing. There is no need to wait for a year end.
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.
Employer National Insurance
The cost of an employee is more than the salary. Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year, the 3% minimum pension contribution, holiday pay, equipment and management time all come on top. The Employment Allowance of £10,500 reduces the National Insurance for most employers with more than one person on the payroll.
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.
Dormant companies
Dormancy is a status that is easy to lose. The strict rule is no accounting transactions other than share capital and Companies House fees, which means no bank account activity at all in practice. Fees should be paid personally by the director. A company that traded and has stopped becomes dormant only after its final trading accounts and tax return are filed and HMRC is told.
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.
Crypto records and reporting
Most crypto holders have taxable events they do not recognise, because every swap is a disposal even when no pounds change hands. The computation requires the complete transaction history from every exchange and wallet, pooled by asset with HMRC's matching rules applied. Exchange-generated tax reports are frequently wrong because they cannot see transfers between a user's own wallets.
Questions
Contractor Accountants questions from Southport
How should I pay myself from the company?
The usual approach is a salary around the National Insurance thresholds, which keeps your State Pension record intact and is deductible for Corporation Tax, with the rest as dividends taxed at the dividend rates after the £500 allowance. The exact split depends on your other income and the company's profit, and we set it at the start of each tax year.
What is IR35 and does it affect me?
IR35 asks whether, but for the company, you would be an employee of your client. If a contract is inside IR35 the income is taxed like employment. Since 2021 medium and large private-sector clients make the determination and deduct tax at source; for small clients the contractor decides. We review contracts and working practices and give a written opinion for £99.
What is in the £75 Essential package?
Annual statutory accounts and CT600 filed with Companies House and HMRC, monthly director payroll with RTI submissions, dividend vouchers and minutes, the confirmation statement filed (Companies House £50 fee separate), and deadline tracking. It suits contractors outside VAT or who prefer to do their own VAT and bookkeeping.
What do Plus and Complete add?
Plus at £105 adds quarterly VAT returns and monthly bookkeeping from your bank feed, so the records are kept for you. Complete at £125 adds the director's Self Assessment return and an annual tax planning call covering salary, dividends, pension and the year ahead. Most contractors inside VAT choose Plus or Complete.
How are dividends documented?
Each dividend needs a board minute approving it and a dividend voucher recording the date, amount and shareholder. The company must have sufficient distributable profits after tax at the time. We check the reserves before each dividend, produce the paperwork and keep it on file, because undocumented dividends are reclassified by HMRC as salary or loans.
What is the flat rate VAT scheme and should I use it?
For most contractors with low costs the limited-cost-trader rate of 16.5% removes any advantage of the flat rate scheme, and the standard scheme reclaiming input VAT on equipment and software is better. Contractors with significant qualifying costs may differ. We calculate both at registration and review annually.
Do you have an office in Southport?
No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Southport 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 contractor accountants is the same in Southport as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.
Is contractor accountants in Southport really the same price as elsewhere?
Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Southport 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.
Ready to fix your fee in Southport?
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.