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Martin been in business for over 40 years and had an accountant from day 1. The tax system is so complicated you need a specialist to ensure your returns are correct and all allowances and capital allowances etc are used effectively. From what I understand "real time" reporting for sole traders is starting or has started this will just add to the burden.
I would not entertain software as it is only as good as the person inputting the figures.
There are good and bad accountants out there. So do your homework before appointing.
I am a sole trader, own my vehicle & tools, that's it. Pay an accountant. I keep Excel spreadsheets of income / expenses & pass it to him in April. It comes back with everything done & what/ when I need to pay HMRC. It costs me £360 which may or may not be good value, I don't know. What I do know is I don't is that I would not have a clue on sorting it myself. That £360 is also deducted as an expense!
That's cheap
I use quickbooks and my accountant has access to do the tax return,.£300.
Not sure on how next year will play out with quarterly returns and a yearly return after making tax digital.
I imagine that will cost me more money to run a business
Quickbooks for us. It works ok, and you can obviously pay at different levels to get what you need. The accountants get remote access to it so you dont have to send anything off. All invoicing done through it, connected to bank accounts so that is all automatic. Saves so much time from doing it on spreadsheets etc and copying information across. With tax HMRC going digital I dont think you have much choice on going down this route but I think for any business, whatever the size, this generates reports and things that can give real time insights and let you know if you are charging enough or what services etc you make money on. If you are looking to grow the business too then this sets you on the right path from the beginning. There is also XERO and SAGE but I think they are much of a muchness with pros and cons. If you go to an accountant might be worth asking which they are familiar with and would prefer?