The work the practice does, set out plainly.
Six headline services that cover most of what owner-managed businesses, contractors and individuals actually need — and three deep-dives where the detail matters more than the headline.
- 01
Year-end accounts
Statutory accounts and corporation tax for limited companies and sole traders.
I prepare statutory accounts for limited companies, sole traders and partnerships — filed with Companies House and HMRC, on time, and reviewed in plain English before they're signed off. The point of the year-end isn't a stack of paperwork; it's a clean read on what the business actually did, and a corporation tax position you understand.
- 02
Personal tax
Self-assessment, capital gains, and tax returns for directors and individuals.
Self-assessment for directors, the self-employed, landlords and higher-rate earners. Capital gains, foreign income, dividend planning, pension and ISA reliefs, and the moving parts of the tax code that catch people out — all handled together rather than in isolation.
- 03
VAT, bookkeeping & MTD
Quarterly VAT returns, Making Tax Digital, and management accounts kept current.
Quarterly VAT, MTD-compliant bookkeeping, and management accounts that stay current rather than being reconstructed at year-end. Where it's useful, I'll set you up properly on Xero, FreeAgent or QuickBooks — and keep things tidy from there. If you don't need cloud software, that's fine too.
- 04
Payroll & CIS
Monthly payroll, RTI submissions, auto-enrolment and Construction Industry Scheme.
Monthly payroll, RTI to HMRC, P60s and P45s, auto-enrolment compliance, and CIS — the contractor and sub-contractor side handled together so the deductions, statements and verifications add up. See the CIS deep-dive below.
- 05
Tax planning
Director's loan accounts, dividend timing, IR35 structuring, proactive review.
Year-round, not year-end. Director's loan account discipline, dividend timing, salary/dividend mix, IR35 status reviews and structuring, and the small set of decisions that actually move the tax bill. See the deep-dives below.
- 06
Starting a business
Incorporation, structure advice, and the practical setup of a new venture.
Incorporation, sole-trader vs. limited company, VAT registration thresholds, payroll setup if you're hiring, the practical bookkeeping you'll actually keep up with, and a sensible first 12 months. I'd rather you start the right way than have to restructure later.
Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)
CIS is one of the bits of the tax system most likely to bite a small construction business — wrong gross-payment status, missed monthly returns, sub-contractor verifications that haven't been done, deductions that don't reconcile. Penalties are quick and meaningful.
I work with main contractors and sub-contractors across Kent, London and Essex. The work covers verifying sub-contractors with HMRC, monthly CIS returns, deduction statements, gross-payment status applications and reviews, and reclaiming over-deducted CIS via self-assessment or payroll offset.
If you're starting out, I'll set the scheme up properly. If you've inherited a mess, I'll quietly straighten it out and tell you what's needed to keep HMRC at arm's length.
IR35 & contractor advice
IR35 isn't going away. The off-payroll rules now sit on the engager for medium and large clients, but the underlying status question — are you genuinely in business on your own account, or are you a disguised employee? — still falls on the contractor day-to-day, particularly when working with smaller end clients.
I help contractors operating through limited companies (PSCs) think clearly about status, structure and tax — without the binary scaremongering you tend to find online. That means status reviews on actual contracts, sensible salary/dividend planning while inside or outside IR35, expense and pension positioning, and an honest read on whether umbrella might be the better option for a particular engagement.
Director's loan & dividend planning
If you run a limited company and take money out across the year, the director's loan account is the unsexy thing that quietly causes the most year-end problems. An overdrawn DLA at the year-end attracts a section 455 charge, benefit-in-kind issues if the loan is over £10,000, and — worst case — a tax bill that's a multiple of what tidier planning would have produced.
I review director's loan accounts as a matter of course, set sensible salary/dividend levels in advance (rather than reconstructing them in arrears), and keep an eye on the moving parts: dividend tax thresholds, the tax-free allowance, when distributions actually become a problem, and how to clear an overdrawn DLA without overpaying tax to do it.
Most clients begin with a short call.
Tell me which of the above is the live question — or describe what you need in your own words. I'll either help, or tell you who would.