Case studies. How can we help you?

Mr W, a pensioner, came to me after using his previous accountant for 3 years. He was recommended to us by a client. He receives a state pension, a small private pension and an income from part time work. His private pension was taxed, and he paid basic rate tax on his PAYE income. He was confused that he was paying around £2000 a year tax as all his income was taxed at source except his state pension. I prepared his self assessment and he had £110 tax to pay. He was even more confused. I said that I would go through his previous returns, and discovered that none of the tax he had paid had been entered onto the returns, so he paid the tax twice! I wrote to HMRC and re-submitted the returns correctly and he got most of his paid tax refunded. He could not have been happier.

A Chelmsford retailer had employed an on-site bookkeeper, but they were a little uneasy about how things were going. I took over the bookkeeping, and found that there were quite serious issues. The VAT returns were dated for the quarter and didn’t include un-reconciled items. Therefore anything entered late was overlooked and the VAT never claimed back. Also, when the VAT rate changed from 17.5% to 15% in 2008, 17.5% VAT continued to be paid on sales for 9 months. I corrected the errors and calculated that £4000 of VAT had been overpaid. This was credited against future payments.

A local tradesperson was recommended to us by a client. He and his wife are sole traders, and there is an additional partnership return, a total of three self assessments. He was paying £1760 per year. Our fee to him is £150 per return, a saving of £1310 per year. He has recommended us to others.

A local retailer was being charged £400 per month for bookkeeping and payroll. Our fee is £400 per quarter, a massive saving of £3200 per year.

A client, an IT consultant, was paying £188 per month to a London based accountant. They sent him a bill for an additional £180 for his personal self assessment. Last year they forgot to submit his payroll returns, which would have cost him around £1500 in additional tax. We now inform him of his tax liability each month, prepare his year end accounts, submit his self assessment and run his payroll for £62.50 per month, a saving of £1686 per year.