VAT and payroll are the recurring essentials that grind on month after month — and they're also where deadlines get missed and penalties accumulate. We handle both for you, on time every time, so you can stop worrying about HMRC submission dates and focus on running the business.
Whether you're newly VAT-registered or have been submitting returns for years, our VAT service takes the recurring burden off your hands.
Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT. All VAT-registered businesses must now keep digital records and submit returns through MTD-compliant software. If you're still using paper records or spreadsheets, we'll get you set up on Xero, QuickBooks or another approved system — and train you on how to use it.
You must register for VAT once your taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period (the threshold from April 2024). Below that, registration is voluntary — and it can sometimes be worth doing voluntarily, particularly if your customers are themselves VAT-registered businesses or if you have significant VAT to reclaim on purchases.
Conversely, if you're approaching the threshold and most of your customers are consumers, careful planning can sometimes keep you below it. We'll look at your specific position and advise.
Running payroll properly is more involved than most people realise. There's RTI submissions, auto-enrolment pensions, statutory payments, holiday calculations, and the never-ending stream of new HMRC rules. We handle all of it for you, however many employees you have.
The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) has its own rules, deductions and monthly returns. If you're a contractor or subcontractor in construction, we handle the full CIS process for you:
Most businesses split VAT and payroll across different providers, or try to handle them in-house. Both approaches usually cost more time and money than they save. When the same firm handles both alongside your year-end accounts, three things happen: deadlines get tracked together (so nothing falls through the cracks), advice considers the whole picture (not just one tax in isolation), and you have one number to call when you have a question.
We charge fixed fees based on the size and complexity of your business. Quarterly VAT returns typically start at around £75-£100 per quarter plus VAT for a straightforward business. Payroll is usually charged per payslip, starting from around £4-£6 per employee per pay run plus a small administration fee. We'll give you a clear, fixed quote after understanding your situation — there's never any surprise billing.
It depends on your business. The standard scheme suits most businesses, but the flat rate scheme can save time and money for smaller businesses with low input VAT (services-based businesses often). Cash accounting is helpful if you have customers who pay slowly, because you only pay VAT to HMRC when you've actually been paid. We'll look at your numbers and recommend the right scheme — it's not a one-time decision either, so we review it as your business changes.
Yes — that's the main point of using an accountant for this. We track every deadline on our system and chase you well in advance for the information we need. You'll never get a panicked call from us the day before a deadline, and you'll never get an HMRC penalty for late filing on our watch.
Under Making Tax Digital rules, yes — your records must be kept digitally and submitted via approved software. We work with both Xero and QuickBooks and can recommend the right one for your business. We'll set you up, train you, and handle the digital submission ourselves so you don't have to learn it all from scratch.
If you employ anyone (even just one person) who is over 22, under State Pension age, and earning over £10,000 per year, you must enrol them in a workplace pension. The rules came in in 2012 and now apply to every employer. We handle the whole process — from assessing your workforce to setting up the scheme, managing contributions, and ongoing re-declaration to the Pensions Regulator.
Yes, and it's something we do a lot of. Most director-only limited companies run a small monthly salary just up to the National Insurance threshold, which is the most tax-efficient approach. We handle the monthly RTI submission to HMRC and the year-end P60. Often we include this in our standard limited company package rather than billing separately.
Book a free, no-obligation consultation. We'll explain how we can help, what it would cost, and what to do next — with no jargon and no pressure.
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