New business start up

New business start up

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Hi all,

Just started setting up to work for myself & before I start advertising for clients I want to make sure that I will have everything in place first!  My plan is to offer bookkeeping services, payroll, SAs, Year End Accounts, Corp Tax & VAT.

I want to stay away from Sage is I believe it is very expensive for what you get so the software packages I'm looking at is

Moneysoft - Payroll

VT+ -Bookkeeping, accounts & VAT

I have 3 questions:

1. I need advice on which software package to use for Corp Tax & SA's or does VT+ include this (I've downloaded the trial version of both these packages but can't see anything jumping out at me.

2. How do these packages talk to one another?  I don't want to go with 3 different packages if it's going to take twice as long than a fully integrated package!!

3. Does anyone have any other suggestions about which packages to use?

I have about £2500 available to set everything up for my business so don't want to use it all on software.

Thanks in advance.

Replies (9)

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By TickTock
11th Jan 2015 13:07

HMRC
I currently use VT for accounts, Moneysoft for payroll & HMRC for CT & SA.

VT will calculate the CT but there is no tax return filing.

The above packages don't talk to each other although I understand VT produces a .csv file for importing into some tax packages.

It is only now (2+ years from starting up) that I think I might need a tax package. I'm currently looking at taxfiler but haven't decided yet.

Thanks (1)
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By CJaneH
11th Jan 2015 16:55

Tax package for IT & CT

I use TaxCalc. the Pro suite was £480.00 last year for both IT & CT.

I have found it straight forward to use and telephone help line good on the rare occasions I have needed it.

 

They allow a free trial.

Thanks (1)
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By qhas
11th Jan 2015 16:59

Tick tock
I am fairly certain VT provides for CT filing including filing in IXBRL

Thanks (1)
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By marks
11th Jan 2015 23:34

Popular choices
Lots on here use vt for accounts, taxfiler for tax and money soft for payroll.

I use taxcalc for accounts and tax. Integrated package and costs £900+vat per year for two licence for unlimited clients.

If you need bookkeeping package then vt is cheap and popular. I use a 25 licence sage package as have sage background.

Also have about 30 clients on Xero and will be moving more onto it or kashflow over the next few months

Thanks (1)
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By Minnie136
12th Jan 2015 06:43

Get clients first

1. I use HMRC software for CT600s/SA and it works fine and I have used Andica when I needed third party software and also hear that Taxfiler is good.

2. They don't talk to eachother.  However it is fairly easy to save iBRXl files from VT and upload to CT600. The ones you have chosen are tried and tested by small practices like yours, fully integrated systems like Iris and Digita would be costly and not necessarily save time.

3. Get clients first and be prepared to offer different bookkeeping packages depending on the client.  I like VT+ but my clients are not bookkeepers so I set some up on FreeAgent and others prefer excel.  While you have time and, other than chasing those clients, download some trials of cloud software and there is loads of info on AWeb.

Thanks (1)
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By David A
13th Jan 2015 12:33

Tax Calc

I set up last year and after trialling a few packages, I went for Tax Calc both for Accounts Production and IT&CT returns.

Have been pleased with the software, have had no problems and will be sticking with it this year.

 

Thanks (1)
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By Maslins
13th Jan 2015 12:45

Agree with most of the above, but one thing I'd say is don't bother buying any software until you have a client to need it.  I made the mistake of signing up to an annual package (with Iris at the time, not far off a grand) and it was about 6 months before I made first usage of it!

VT & Taxcalc is our combination of choice, been using both those for a good few years.  There will be some duplication of data between the two, but personally I think it's a small price worth paying.

Payroll we used to use 12Pay but now get virtually all of it done through client's own FreeAgent.

Thanks (1)
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By BroadheadAccountants
13th Jan 2015 13:02

Clients first

We managed manually for a few years before switching to Digita.  We had time on our hands whilst growing and then HMRC mandated electronic filings at a convenient time.

It was a growth pain to get Digita but never looked back.

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By Rick Deckard
13th Jan 2015 14:36

I agree get the clients first

I can confirm that Taxfiler is a very simple, easy to use package (at £12.00 a month for the basic version you need) and imports VT+ files and handles CT and IT/partnerships etc.

Integration can be a great thing, but having used integrated packages (Iris & Digita) the time saving is not as great as expected (how long does it take to import from one package to another? Maybe 5 minutes at the absolute most) and the above triad cannot be beaten for ease of use and value for money in my opinion.

Thanks (1)