[keikobadthebad]

You need a chartered accountant, lawyer doesn't sound needed.

There are ongoing costs to having a ltd company, you must keep accurate records and pay for your books to be prepared and signed off by the chartered accountant, it'll be like GBP700/yr or something.

Generally at this level of business, nobody cares who owns the email you transact business under.

[JonoBB]

You don't need an accountant to sign off your books at this level. Its totally legal to do them yourself, and submit them directly the Companies House and HMRC. Micro-entity accounts should take a few hours a year if you use any of the decent online accounting packages.

[simontrl]

Can you recommend any packages here? I'm considering VAT registration too. I think for the sake for ~£1K/year that can be expensed, having an accountant deal with it and advise here is a no-brainer in terms of time saving and having it done right.

[Nextgrid]

FreeAgent - it handles both CT, VAT, payroll and self-assessment filing for you. Most importantly, it provides you a real-time figure of "how much $$$ can I take out of my company as dividends?" which accounts for all company taxes and liabilities. Pair it with Starling Bank and you have a modern business stack that just works and gets out of your way.

I'd still recommend getting an accountant at least during the first year just so you can learn everything and have an authoritative resource for tax-related questions; you can drop them when you feel confident doing it all yourself.

[simontrl]

Any recommendations? The average I'm finding is more around £1300/year. Crunch is around £700 a year but I'd rather use Freeagent over their own software so I can switch accountant later if needed.

[phphphphp]

You'll find most accountants have their own software expectations, i.e: saying to an accountant "you must use Freeagent" won't work, they dictate the software and workflows, not you. If you expect to switch accountants, expect to switch software, and so the ability to export data is what matters (and all software will support that).

[simontrl]

Makes sense but I already have several years of experience using Freeagent by myself, and there's lots of accountants that advertise they use Freeagent too. If I don't need a specialist accountant, finding one that uses Freeagent seems a good idea and if it doesn't work out (you hear lots of horror stories) I can easily switch without the upheaval of learning new software.

[Nextgrid]

I've been very happy with Maslins (https://www.maslins.co.uk) in the past. I suggest you give them a call and they'll probably answer a lot of your questions above free of charge.

[arooaroo]

I was a happy client of Maslins when I switched from sole trader to limited company. I was doing freelance software development so the switch was a doddle. You get a FreeAgent account as part of the deal and they have access to it to oversea your accounts. They will also do your personal self assessment for you too.

I’m sure they will be able to advise on your situation.