Rubbish accountants!! Please help!! Wiltshire!!

[Swifey]

Hello there, I run my own company, it's ltd, but no employees, just 2 directors. Anyway my accountants who I have been with are just totally rubbish, and I pay them £130 a month for the privilege. They have just emailed me to say that they had queries on 5 'unrecorded' sales, which I have fully looked up and sent them all the info they need, and the previous spreadsheets that they already have with the info on it!!!!! Aaarrgggghhhhh!!! I also feel like they are not advising me of anything, of the things I can claim for do I effectively pay less tax etc. Can anyone advise, or recommend someone good in the Wiltshire area? Thanks xx

Your thread title made me laugh. It was like a call out for all rubbish accountants to answer...

Yes, whoops, I hadn't read it back properly!! ?? I suppose it should read 'really brilliant accountants, who can help me make the most out of my money'!!! ??

To be honest there isn;t too much you can do to avoid tax these days - the usual stuff...

Pay yourself the appropriate amount as an employee and take the balance in dividends - avoid quite a bit of national insurance
Make sure you charge an amount for use of home (assuming you do actually do some work from home).

Ok, now I'm seriously in the sh*t!! My accts have just informed me that they have missed invoices (by using the wrong columns) and now they have to put invoices totally @ £4000 for the next quarter. They have said that it's totally their fault, my spreadsheets had all the info etc!! Wtf!!!! Do now, although I have paid all my vat up to date etc I will now have to pay this next quarter because of their incompetence! There is no money left to go this as I have spent it on reinvesting and dividends etc. what comeback do I have? I have been paying them £130 a month for the privilege of them doing my vat!!! Please help me!!

Well practically speaking the only thing you can do is use the forthcoming quarter to keep a bit more money aside to pay the VAT on £4,000 (presumably around £800).

You can try asking then for a refund of their fees during the quarter they cocked up which will contribute a further £390 though they could argue that their fees also cover your payroll and possibly your year end accounts too but you might get a discount if you ask for a full refund.

I don't like using spreadsheets to produce VAT returns I much prefer to use a proper accounting system - less margin of error in my opinion.

Unfortunately you are responsible for your VAT returns not your accountants and you probably signed something with them to say so so your recourse is limited. If they are in any way decent though they should agree some kind of refund.

you need a new accountant ;-)