Help with tax return – how much do you/would you expect to pay an accountant?

[fiddlerintheloft]

I work part-time, from home, and I also have a property I rent out for short-term lets ? overall my income if v small fry but it's quite complicated because of several mortgages, two different streams of interest, lots of set-up costs from rental property etc so I could do with some help from an accountant. I've just been quoted £650 plus VAT as a flat tax return fee ? sounds like a hell of a lot to me but I don't know what the going rate is.

Could anyone tell me what they pay their accountant for tax return assistance/advice?

Thanks v much,

I paid £100 last year for a much less complicated one - PAYE, a little rental income and v modest dividend. But your quote does sound very high.

Thanks jjklpu ? yes, I thought so.

Sorry just reread my first post, should have said 'two different streams of income' i.e. from work and from rental. Don't wish to make it more complicated than it actually is!

That sounds ridiculously high.

We pay our accountant £1200+VAT per year to do all our business accounts, and that includes tax returns for both directors (me and DH).

Alibaba - thank you - puts it into perspective...

Ask for a quote on here
www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=fe597ff8bcaa8fb17efa0412da4588db&f=55
I'd be amazed if you end up paying much more than £250 ish ....

That sounds much too high for what you're after. Have you got all your costs etc itemised and collected together somewhere? Have you got your p60? If you have it's worth mentioning when getting a quote. The problem with cases like yours can be that people spend ages faffing around looking for things, and half the accountant's time is spent chasing things up.

I'd also stress you have a part time job working from home but that you are just a normal employee (if that's what you are). They may have seen the home worker bit and assumed own business etc (and then your quote would be a bit more reasonable).

I pay £250 + VAT. I have my salary and some commercial property income.

I'm a chartered accountant and never heard of anyone paying that much, unless it includes preparing sole trader accounts... I.e. going through books and records, reconciling bank accounts, going through receipts etc etc.

If you have all the information together then most tax returns would be £250 + VAT max.