E-commerce Accountants · West Midlands
E-commerce accountants in Stoke-on-Trent
Selling online from Stoke-on-Trent produces more accounting events per pound of turnover than almost any other business: fees, refunds, reserves, currency conversions, VAT collected by the marketplace on some sales and by you on others. We reconcile all of it from the channel reports every month and keep the VAT right. Fixed monthly fee, agreed in writing.
from £79/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
- Online Self Assessment filing deadline and balancing payment due
Who this is for
E-commerce Accountants for Stoke-on-Trent
Online sellers in Stoke-on-Trent: marketplace traders on one or several platforms, brands selling through their own store, dropshippers, subscription box businesses, sellers importing stock from overseas, UK sellers with EU or international customers, and businesses approaching or past the £90,000 VAT threshold who need the registration and returns handled correctly.
What is included
Everything inside the fixed fee
- Sales, fees, refunds and payouts reconciled per channel from marketplace and payment-processor reports
- VAT handled correctly for UK sales, marketplace-collected VAT, imports, EU and overseas customers
- Inventory accounting with cost of sales and stock valuation in the top package
- Cloud software integrated with your channels so transactions post automatically
- Annual accounts and Corporation Tax or Self Assessment, with the figures tying back to channel reports
- Marketplace VAT health check: a one-off review of your registrations and settings against the rules
How it works
E-commerce Accountants from Stoke-on-Trent, 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
The IGI way of working, in Stoke-on-Trent
One fixed fee for e-commerce accountants in Stoke-on-Trent, agreed in writing before any work starts and never changed part-way through the job, however long it takes us.
We work to the HMRC and Companies House calendar, not an appointment diary. Clients in Stoke-on-Trent get reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days before each date that applies to e-commerce accountants.
We serve Stoke-on-Trent 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 e-commerce accountants.
Continuity matters in e-commerce accountants: the person who prepared last year's work for your Stoke-on-Trent business prepares this year's, and remembers what was agreed.
The output for Stoke-on-Trent 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 e-commerce accountants.
Nothing is filed for Stoke-on-Trent until you have reviewed and approved it. You see the draft, you ask questions, you sign off, then we submit and send you the receipt.
Local facts
About Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent is in West Midlands, in the ST1 postcode district, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Shelton, Stoke on Trent | 0.1 mi | W |
| Joiner's Square | 0.6 mi | E |
| Cliff Vale | 0.7 mi | W |
| Hanley | 0.7 mi | NE |
| Etruria | 0.8 mi | NW |
| Stoke-upon-Trent | 0.9 mi | S |
| Hartshill, Stoke on Trent | 1.0 mi | SW |
| Botteslow | 1 mi | E |
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
You can switch accountant at any point in the year. The new firm requests clearance and your records from the old one, which cannot withhold your own documents though it may hold its own working papers until its fees are settled. Agent authorisations with HMRC and Companies House are transferred, and the next deadline is picked up without a gap.
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.
Crypto records and reporting
Crypto tax splits into capital gains on disposals and income on rewards, with different rates and different reporting. The £3,000 annual exempt amount and the 18% and 24% rates apply to gains; staking, mining and airdrop income is taxed at marginal income tax rates. HMRC's nudge letters to holders have increased sharply, and a voluntary disclosure before one arrives is treated far more leniently.
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.
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.
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.
Questions
E-commerce Accountants questions from Stoke-on-Trent
How do refunds and returns affect my VAT and accounts?
A refund reverses the sale and the VAT on it in the period the refund is made, not the original sale. Returned stock goes back into inventory at cost. Marketplace reports show these separately and we reconcile them so that both the VAT return and the profit figure reflect actual net sales.
Can you handle multiple currencies?
Yes. Sales in foreign currencies are converted at the rate on the transaction date for the accounts and at HMRC's published rates for VAT, and the difference between those and what actually lands in your bank is recorded as exchange gain or loss. The software handles this once configured correctly.
Should I trade as a sole trader or a company?
Many sellers start as sole traders and incorporate as profits grow. A company protects personal assets from supplier and platform disputes, and can be more tax efficient at higher profits, but adds compliance. Marketplaces also treat business accounts differently. We run the comparison for your numbers.
Do I need to register for VAT if the marketplace collects it?
Marketplace-collected VAT does not count towards your registration threshold, but your other sales do. Many sellers have a mix and cross the £90,000 threshold without realising. We monitor your rolling 12-month taxable turnover monthly and tell you when registration is approaching.
Can you reconcile my payment processor as well as the marketplace?
Yes. Card processors and payment gateways on your own store are integrated so that gross sales, fees and payouts post and reconcile automatically. The fee treatment, including VAT on processor fees, is configured at setup, which is where most self-built integrations go wrong.
What is the marketplace VAT health check?
A one-off £149 review of your VAT registration, your marketplace tax settings, your treatment of imports and overseas sales, and a sample of recent returns against the rules. It produces a written report of errors found and what to do about them. Most sellers who have set things up themselves have at least one.
How do I get started from Stoke-on-Trent?
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 e-commerce accountants. Once you confirm, we tell you exactly which records to send and the work begins. Most Stoke-on-Trent clients are set up within a day.
Which deadlines matter most for e-commerce accountants?
The next four dates that apply to e-commerce accountants are shown at the top of this page, calculated from today. For Stoke-on-Trent 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.
Fixed fees, filed on time, for Stoke-on-Trent
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.