Small business accounting advice
Appointing an accountant
UK VAT Registration
Accounting News
Legal
Our pricing
How much does it cost?
One benefit of being focused exclusively on ecommerce, is that we have a clear idea of how work scales based on revenue and business model, and are able to offer most sellers the standardised pricing below.
All prices are shown excluding VAT because most of our clients are VAT registered or will be in the next 6 months, so VAT exclusive is the real cost. If you are not VAT registered, add 20% to the fees.
Accounting
Prices
What is included?
The accounting service fee is based on your revenue because this is the most reliable indicator of the level of work involved and the scale of our liability.
We charge monthly to spread the annual fee and because you can access advice from the point you sign up, and this will be based on your provided estimated revenue for the current year.
After the year ends and the actual revenue is known, we will charge (or refund) an amount so that the total you pay per financial year is exactly 12 x the monthly fee below for your actual revenue.
Revenue
Sole Trader
Limited Company
Less than £100,000
£49.50
£99.00
£100,000 to £200,000
£54.50
£109.00
£200,000 to £300,000
£59.50
£119.00
£300,000 to £400,000
£64.50
£129.00
£400,000 to £500,000
£69.50
£139.00
£500,000 to £632,000
£75.00
£150.00
£632,000 to £1,000,000
£99.50
£199.00
£1,000,000 to £2,000,000
£114.50
£229.00
£2,000,000 to £3,000,000
£129.50
£259.00
£3,000,000 to £4,000,000
£144.50
£289.00
£4,000,000 to £5,000,000
£159.50
£319.00
£5,000,000 to £6,000,000
£174.50
£349.00
More than £6,000,000
£189.50
£379.00
This service includes us preparing and submitting all annual UK filings required for your business, to both Companies House and HMRC, as well as your Confirmation Statement.
It also includes you being able to access your accountant for any compliance advice throughout the year.
What might be out of scope for advice?
Generally any query that is accounting and tax in nature is in scope. For queries that would generate preparation work as opposed to research work, these are generally out of scope and we would provide a quote. Examples of these would be preparing and filing an R&D claim or preparing a mortgage certificate.
Research in areas outside of our jurisdiction. i.e. not UK tax law, will be out of scope, but where something is ecommerce specific we tend to provide guidance.
For example, we cannot file US Sales tax filings, but we can give you clear guidance on what solution sellers use, and how to find out when it may apply to you. Similarly for EU VAT, we can provide guidance and are well aware of the rules that apply in order to ensure you do not declare VAT in the wrong jurisdiction, but cannot file your returns for you (at least not until the EU VAT changes in July 2021).
Bookkeeping and VAT
Prices
What is included?
The bookkeeping and VAT fee is based on the time and complexity for your bookkeeper to handle your books, and is priced at £40 per hour.
It is not possible to know the exact level of time required to complete your books before seeing them and going through your transactions in detail, e.g. if you deal with one supplier only, your bookkeeping will be cheaper. If your expenses are varied, in multiple currencies, etc. then it will take more time. However, we have provided you the ranges below based on business model and expected complexity to give you an indication.
Once we have handled your first period of books we will let you know the fixed monthly fee we would charge thereafter. As your business grows, your bookkeeping may become more complicated, and we'll let you know if this means we need to update your pricing.
Model
Few complexities
Some complexity
More complexity
Shopify Seller (or other single channel website platform like WooCommerce, Magento, etc) or Dropshipper
40 - 75
Dropshipper using PayPal and Shopify Payments. Not VAT registered, low volume
100 - 200
VAT registered Dropshipper, Additional Store, Additional Payment Gateways, medium volume
210 +
High Volume Dropshipper, Multiple Stores, VAT registered, mixed VAT treatment e.g. some non-UK VAT sales some UK VAT sales
Private Label Seller
50 - 95
Amazon FBA seller not VAT registered, low volume
105 - 240
Amazon FBA seller VAT registered to PAN-EU Registered, medium volumes
260 +
Large volume FBA Seller, PAN EU, plus additional sales channels
Online/Retail arbitrage seller
60 - 105
OA/RA Seller not VAT registered
125 - 250
OA Seller VAT registered
275 +
Large volume, OA Seller, PAN EU, multiple sales channels
Complex Seller / Multi-channel / Unknown
75 - 150
Not VAT registered
175 - 300
plus one or two complexity factors
325 +
Same plus multiple complexity factors
Bookkeeping is the reconciliation of all of your bank transactions with the activity of the business, and classification of all transactions into their correct accounting categories. Bookkeeping is the basis for preparing VAT returns and annual accounts.
Bookkeeping additionally lets you obtain quality Management Reporting. The reporting available by default in Xero is powerful and easily configurable and will let you see your P&L and balance sheet up until when your bookkeeping was last completed.
We will complete your bookkeeping on a quarterly basis, but if you wish, we can do so on a monthly basis instead for an additional fee of c. 40-50%.
Bookkeeping Software
Prices
What is included?
Software
Cost (GBP)
RRP
Xero
£27
£30
Receipt Bank
£10
£40
Total
£37
£70
You receive the top tier package for both providers and benefit from our partner level discount.
We use a software called Xero to complete your bookkeeping (to which you will also have access). The cost of Xero is £27 per month (RRP £30 for the multi-currency tier we use).
We use a software called Receipt Bank to capture and process your invoices (you simply email [email protected]). The cost of Receipt Bank is £10 per month (RRP £40 for the unlimited tier).
The total fee for these software licences is £37+VAT per month and is in addition to your bookkeeping fee. We show this fee separately for transparency.
Payroll and pensions reporting
Prices
What is included?
Reporting
Fee
Cost (GBP)
Base fee
15
Payroll per employee
5
Pensions reporting per employee
3
Registrations
Fee
Cost (GBP)
Set up your PAYE scheme
60
Set up your pensions auto-enrolment scheme with NEST
120
We will prepare your monthly RTI submissions to HMRC, plus pensions reporting if applicable. If you need us to register you for Payroll or set up your workplace pension with NEST, we can do this for you as well as handle the declaration of compliance required by employers.
Self Assessment a.k.a. Director Tax Returns
Pricing depends on the complexity of your personal tax circumstances, and you'll typically fall into the either £175, £350, or £600 category as described on the main website pricing page.
Not everyone needs to complete a self assessment. The most common reasons are if you are a Sole Trader or have received more than £2,000 in dividends (the Dividend Allowance) during the tax year. If unsure, you can use HMRC's self assessment checker​
Company Formation and Registered Address
We can form your company for you and provide you with a registered address. However, as accountancies move address occasionally, and do not have dedicated mail and parcel forwarding infrastructure, we would generally recommend using a dedicated formation agent and serviced address provider - see our specific advice on this here: registering a company.
For forming your company we will charge £75. For registered address services we will charge £10 per month and will open and handle any correspondence from HMRC and Companies House. Anything else (except bank statements) will be returned to sender, so please be aware this is not appropriate to use as a correspondence address.
VAT Registration
We can VAT register your business for you and the price depends on if you are a UK business or not because the process is slightly different depending on your business jurisdiction. We charge £120 for a UK business and £175 for a non-UK business.
If you want to better understand when you need to VAT register, check out our specific advice on this topic, which includes a guide on how to register yourself for free:
​
I’ve done £40k revenue or less. Can you do my accounts?
Please bear in mind that our starting band for accounting services is for businesses making up to £50k per year. If your current revenue is significantly below £50k, then we may not be the right accountants for you, as the lowest fee we would charge for filing a full year set of accounts and the required bookkeeping (12 x £79 + VAT for a Limited Company plus an amount depending on the complexity of your bookkeeping) would represent a significant portion of the business' annual profit.
Pricing for VAT-only services (non-UK businesses only)
UK VAT Returns
VAT Registration
A take-on fee which is £150+VAT.
The ongoing VAT service fee is based on the amount of UK VATable revenue you do in the VAT quarter we are preparing for you because this is the most reliable indicator of the level of work involved and the scale of our liability.
VATable Revenue in VAT quarter (GBP)
Quarterly fee (GBP)
12.5k
135
25k
150
50k
180
75k
210
100k
240
Per additional 25k
+30
If you are not already VAT registered and would like us to VAT register your business we charge £175.
How and when do I pay you?
Once you have reviewed prices and decide to sign up, we will charge the first month’s fee at sign up, and then take ongoing payments by Direct Debit via GoCardless (for UK businesses) or via Stripe (for non-UK businesses for whom we are providing UK VAT services).
You start by paying the monthly accounting fee only, and once we’ve set up your payroll / bookkeeping / VAT, only then would we add these services to your monthly invoice. Self Assessments (if you need them) are billed annually since your personal circumstances change and it is not possible to know in advance what your requirements will be (however costs can be know up front by reviewing our pricing tables).
Appointing an accountant - Previous
How to appoint us
Next - UK VAT Registration
When and how to register for UK VAT
Last modified 7mo ago
Copy link
Contents
How much does it cost?
Accounting
Bookkeeping and VAT
Bookkeeping Software
Payroll and pensions reporting
Self Assessment a.k.a. Director Tax Returns
Company Formation and Registered Address
VAT Registration
I’ve done £40k revenue or less. Can you do my accounts?
Pricing for VAT-only services (non-UK businesses only)
How and when do I pay you?