Bookkeeping questions, answered.

At Bookkeeping Services, bookkeeping costs a flat £15 per hour. Most sole traders need 2 to 4 hours a month (£30 to £60) and small limited companies 4 to 8 hours (£60 to £120). Our instant quote gives your exact figure.

Answer a few questions, see your instant price, pay securely by card and your bookkeeper contacts you within one working day. The whole process takes about two minutes.

No long contract. Onboarding time is charged at the same £15 hourly rate and shown clearly in your quote.

Xero, QuickBooks Online, FreeAgent and Sage, plus migration from spreadsheets.

We are part of Accotax, a London accountancy firm. If you also need tax returns or company accounts, our parent firm can provide them.

Yes. We use secure access methods such as accountant invitations and bank feeds, and never ask you to email passwords. You can revoke access at any time.

Yes. Everything is done online, so we work with clients across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

At Bookkeeping Services it costs £15 per hour. A sole trader with around 50 transactions a month typically needs about 3 hours, so roughly £45 a month. Use the instant quote for your exact figure.

No. You can pause or stop whenever you need to. You only pay for the hours worked.

Yes. We work in Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent and Sage, or can migrate you from spreadsheets.

As far as your records allow. HMRC expects you to keep records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline for Self Assessment, and 6 years for companies.

We reconstruct from bank statements wherever possible and tell you which items need supporting evidence.

We prepare the records. Filing and HMRC correspondence are handled by our parent firm Accotax if you need them.

The compulsory VAT registration threshold is £90,000 of taxable turnover in any rolling 12 months (from 1 April 2024).

We prepare MTD-ready figures. Submission can be done by you in your software or arranged through Accotax.

Yes. We review prior periods and flag anything that may need a voluntary disclosure.

Yes, the subscription is paid to Xero directly. We charge only for our time.

Yes, clean-up is our most common Xero request.

No. The rate is £15 per hour whichever software you use.

Usually timing differences, duplicated feeds, unrecorded fees or transfers coded twice. Reconciliation isolates and corrects each cause.

We do the bookkeeping side: journals, liabilities and reconciliations. The payslips and Real Time Information submissions are produced in your payroll software, which we can work alongside or advise on.

Electronic payments must reach HMRC by the 22nd of the month after the pay period ends. Smaller employers can sometimes pay quarterly.

Eligible employers can reduce their employer's National Insurance bill by up to £10,500 a year. We make sure it is claimed and tracked in your records.

For standard quarters the updates are due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, one month after each quarter ends on 5 July, 5 October, 5 January and 5 April.

Sole traders and landlords whose qualifying income is above £50,000 from April 2026, above £30,000 from April 2027 and above £20,000 from April 2028. Check the current rules on GOV.UK.

Spreadsheets can be used only with compatible bridging software that links to HMRC. Most people find proper accounting software with bank feeds simpler.

Contractors must file the monthly CIS300 return by the 19th of the month following the tax month, which ends on the 5th.

Yes. Deductions count as tax already paid, so they are credited against your tax bill and any excess is refunded. Good records make that straightforward.

For most construction services between VAT-registered businesses, the customer accounts for the VAT instead of the supplier. Getting it wrong is a common error.

Yes, you pay FreeAgent directly. Some UK business bank accounts include it free. We charge only for our time.

FreeAgent supports MTD for VAT and Income Tax reporting. We keep the data correct so submissions are simple.

Yes. We migrate opening balances, contacts and history and run both in parallel for a month so nothing is lost. See our software migration service.

No. Management reports are for you to run the business. Statutory accounts are filed with Companies House and HMRC and are prepared by our parent firm, Accotax, if you need them.

Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act, business-to-business debts can attract interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, plus fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the debt size.

Firm, courteous and consistent reminders rarely do. Most late payment is simply forgotten, not deliberate.

Yes, a clear digital copy is acceptable provided it shows the date, supplier, amount and what was bought, and you keep it for the required period.

Companies House accounts are due 9 months after the year-end. The Corporation Tax return is due 12 months after, and the tax itself is normally payable 9 months and 1 day after the year-end.

The online return and any tax due are normally due by 31 January following the end of the tax year on 5 April.

Warning signs include a bank balance that does not match the statement, a large suspense or uncategorised balance, VAT returns that do not reconcile, and reports that surprise you.

No. We bring across opening balances and key history, and keep an export of the old system so you can always look something up.

It is a tax charge on a close company that has lent money to a participator, such as a director, and the loan is still outstanding 9 months and 1 day after the company's year-end. The rate is 33.75% of the outstanding balance, repayable when the loan is cleared.

We rebuild the records. Representation and correspondence with HMRC are handled by our parent firm, Accotax, or your own adviser.

From April 2026, self-employed people and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000 must keep digital records and send quarterly updates under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. The threshold falls to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028.

At least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline for the relevant tax year.

Company records must be kept for at least 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to.

Repairs that restore a property to its previous condition are generally deductible against rental income; improvements are generally capital and are not.

Yes, deductions taken by contractors count as tax already paid and are credited through your tax return or company payments, so accurate records matter.