UK Pickups - reviews

[DaveDCB]

Always done my own vat, from back when it was a hand written return , now it’s fully digital it’s a breeze! Input invoice details and upload, even a cat could do it. I pay for independent vat advice(insured!) from a dedicated specialist company, some of our stuff is complicated so they deal with that for us.

Other way of doing it which may not be to bad is to buy it personally and charge mileage back ... May work if a sole trader but the cost of fuel probably kills it
45p a mile first 10k miles
25p there after
Of your tax bill

i did 10k miles in my own car every year when I was a sole trader, one of the only perks!!

 

[Jimoz]

Do my own vat too. Im the only one my accountant knows with mtd exemption. I didn't put a fixed bt line into last place so argued I relied on mobile Internet and wasn't the sharpest on computers.

 

[V8Druid]

Always done my own vat, from back when it was a hand written return , now it’s fully digital it’s a breeze! Input invoice details and upload, even a cat could do it. I pay for independent vat advice(insured!) from a dedicated specialist company, some of our stuff is complicated so they deal with that for us.

i did 10k miles in my own car every year when I was a sole trader, one of the only perks!!

never ran company cars ... just logged biz mileage and reclaimed VAT, fuel costs, running costs, etc. on own vehicles ..
did my own VAT quarterlies and EOY, then had them audited and signed off on, by our accountant - kept the accountant's costs down significantly -

 

[Brendan]

I use quick file, all invoices through it and all expenses put in to it and it works it all out and sends the return, my vat is straightforward as only materials and any tools/kit bought for work and alot of it is reverse charge so no big bills either

 

[DaveDCB]

I use quick file, all invoices through it andall expenses put in to it and it works it all out and sends the return, my vat is straightforward as only materials and any tools/kit bought for work and alot of it is reverse charge so no big bills either

Software takes a lot of the issues out of it these days.

 

[DaveDCB]

Always done my own vat, from back when it was a hand written return , now it’s fully digital it’s a breeze! Input invoice details and upload, even a hamster could do it.
I pay for independent vat advice(insured!) from a dedicated specialist vat company , my construction side can be complicated so they give detailed advice and we follow that when required.

 

[Storrsy]

I could quite easily do my own vat and SA being a pretty basic sole trader business with no staff. But I'm utterly useless at I.T. haven't the patience for it either but mainly think less chance of being investigated for VAT if a chartered accountant does it. Someone I know had a VAT investigation, they weren't doing anything out of sorts but firewood sales made the figures look squiffy. The amount of time it consumed from him because he didn't have an accountant would have easily paid for a few years of accountant fees

 

[JD450A]

I pay £100 or something a year insurance via chartered accountant for insurance. If I get investigated insurance pays. Peace of mind is ace.

 

[doobin]

I pay £100 or something a year insurance via chartered accountant for insurance. If I get investigated insurance pays. Peace of mind is ace.

Pays for your accountants time in dealign with HMRC.

Doesn't pay any naughty boy fines!

 

[Lancs Lad]

Where's our resident accounts got to? @fred?
Gently as I can....you can see from some of the questions on this thread who needs an account and who doesn't

 

[Stroppymonkey]

I pay £100 or something a year insurance via chartered accountant for insurance. If I get investigated insurance pays. Peace of mind is ace.

The accountants bill is paid, but it will still cost you a lot of time, and if you are fined then that’s to pay as well 🫤

 

[JD450A]

Pays for your accountants time in dealign with HMRC.

Doesn't pay any naughty boy fines!

Thats what a chartered accountant is for though..... and on the off chance they want to play games the accountant can spend the time on the phone and in meetings. Beats doing it myself.

 

[Storrsy]

The accountants bill is paid, but it will still cost you a lot of time, and if you are fined then that’s to pay as well 🫤

If I'm getting fined when accountant had dealt with it all there will be some serious question asked

 

[DaveDCB]

Had two vat investigations in the past, first one when I was 17 - made sense, not many 17yr olds are claiming vat back they told me off for claiming vat back on a £3 pair of jeans from Tesco .


Second one was few yrs later, they just sat at accountants and did it and I never heard anymore.

 

[DaveDCB]

Oh and also this is why you run a company owned vehicle .. so you can put through expenses like this wife came to site to sort window details out, came in her own car and found the only dropped nail! The 45p/mile doesn’t go far on tyres like this

 

[Giles]

Saw this on face ache

I want to talk about one of the most expensive mistakes I’ve made in business.

And it may save someone reading this a lot of money

the most expensive mistake was:
Not a bad deal.
Not a dodgy partner.

An ego decision.

I hit just over £40,000 in a single month.
First time ever.
Felt untouchable.
Felt like I’d cracked it.

So I did what a lot of people do when they get that first big win.

I upgraded my life.

I took a brand new Land Rover Defender through the business.
£1,200 a month lease.
Insurance.
Fuel.
The lot.

At the time I thought:
“It’s a business expense.”
“I’ll save tax.”
“I deserve it.”
“This is what success looks like.”

Fast forward to the tax return.

That one decision:

– Added £24,629 of fake “income” to my tax return
– Pushed me into higher rate tax
– Wiped out child benefit
– Triggered extra dividend tax
– Cost the company Class 1A NIC
– And absolutely smashed my January tax bill

When I added it all up properly…

That car cost me around £38,000 in one year. And that’s every year!!!!

People think the cost is the lease and insurance.
It isn’t. The real cost is the lease plus the tax consequences.

I didn’t get £38k of value.
I didn’t drive £38k worth of enjoyment.
I just handed it to HMRC because I thought I was playing the game smart.

Truth is:
I wasn’t being smart.
I was being emotional.

I confused one good month with sustainable income.
I let ego make a financial decision.
I didn’t understand how brutal company cars are for directors.

I’m sharing this because I see people hit a big month and immediately:
– Upgrade cars
– Upgrade houses
– Lock in lifestyle costs
– Assume the money will always be there

Sometimes the biggest mistakes aren’t losing money.
They’re spending it too confidently.

If this post saves one person from making the same decision,
it’s worth admitting I got it wrong.

Learn from my pain

 

[V8Druid]

" one swallow maketh not a summer "
silly fella

 

[DaveDCB]

Nothing to do with the defender then.. just hopeless with money! Either way he was spluffing his 40k on a lease - just so happened to loose all his tax benefits in the process - which he obvs didn’t need!!

 

[JD450A]

Nothing to do with the defender then.. just hopeless with money! Either way he was spluffing his 40k on a lease - just so happened to loose all his tax benefits in the process - which he obvs didn’t need!!

Icarus did similar TBF to want to buy a new shape defender you'd have to be a bit of a .....

 

[DaveDCB]

Icarus did similar TBF to want to buy a new shape defender you'd have to be a bit of a .....

Plonker? Yeah I’ll take that