One New Accounts System Required with Two Different Vat Registrations

One New Accounts System Required with Two...

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I manage the accounts for a small Irish company with a UK branch and a VAT Registration in both UK and Ireland with separate VAT returns for the income and expenditure in each country, but the overall totals are as one company. I also operate the payroll for Ireland and the UK. (If you ever thought the UK PAYE system complex and confusing, it is a walk in the park compared to the Irish system).

I currently manage it using an accounts system I created on excel as it has never been possible to find an accounts system which would do what was required, then link and produce all the reports needed, and do so in two currencies.  However the client has decided that it would be a good idea to find an online system we can all access from anywhere and I agree it is essential as the company grows.

Does anyone know of a really good accounts system that will do what my excel system does at the moment and manage two currencies.  I have it set up so that I only have to do one entry for each transaction and it links to and produces endless numbers of reports including, sales, commissions due, targets met or not at any one time, expense budgets on track or not as the case may be and also cash flow reports.

We have found one system from a company based in Northern Ireland who have obviously been faced with the same problem by many clients working between the north and south, they are probably closer to the problem than we are here in England.  However it just seems very basic and I would now be faced with doing everything several times as it does not produce any of the reports linked to the accounts which I have managed to create in excel.  I am looking for something which will be less time consuming to operate not more, but it needs to be worth having to make the change.

This cannot be the only company faced with this problem so what do others do?  I tried Sage One it won't do two separate VAT registrations or two currencies in the one set of accounts.  We could have two separate systems but it would have nothing linking to give an overall picture of the financial position.

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By 3569787
03rd May 2016 16:25

3 companies

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Replying to Nik Heath:
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By Isla
04th Jul 2014 21:14

Many thanks for taking the time to reply to me,

I will look at the link, the budget is based on paying a monthly online fee for the online system.  I just need to find something that is going to work, not be too time consumming to use and at the same time be understood by the client.  A tall order!!

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By fiona_howells
04th Jul 2014 12:12

QB?

QuickBooks will do it - pretty sure you set up an Irish VAT agency and then a UK vat agency and have different VAT codes for each then filter any VAT report to show just what you need.  Not sure about the Irish PAYE scheme though

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By Isla
04th Jul 2014 21:24

Thanks

Thank you, I have not looked at QuickBooks but will certainly do this now.  The Irish PAYE (the bain of my life) for now I will just continue to do manually using their allegedly interactive online tax cards, PRSI, USC, Property Tax, Pension contribution etc etc.  Except that they are not actually inertactive.

Many thanks.

 

 

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By bclewis
10th Jul 2014 13:13

Quickbooks

QuickBooks should do the job, you set up VAT item codes and multicurrency, and you can differentiate the Irish and UK businesses by class so produce separate reporting for each. That's the desktop version anyway which I find very good (far superior and more user friendly than Sage, which wouldn't be hard).

For payroll in Ireland, buy a package like Collsoft or Payback (www.collsoft.ie, www.payback.ie ), only €130 or so pa and saves hours of time and trouble, doing it manually in Ireland is a recipe for trouble with the various thresholds/medical card exemptions etc. I use Payback for about 20 clients per month and it works very well. Let me know if you want any more info.

 

 

 

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By SWestlake
18th Jul 2014 16:24

ABM

We use Advanced Business Manager (ABM), it is very easy to use and has multi- currency and multi- company capabilities.  Highly recommend it.

www.advancedbusinessmanager.com  or contact 01275 547412

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By Brend201
18th Jul 2014 16:31

You have three different issues here.

1. Multi-currency - should not be much of a problem and online systems are fairly readily available.  If you don't absolutely have to use online, QuickBooks does multi-currency very well.  Not sure which system will generate all the reports that you already though.  

2. VAT returns for two jurisdictions - this is the main difficulty and we have it too.  We have a fairly good online system but this is a problem that is on their development list and had not been mentioned before we reported it.  (They are based in Ireland and so are we.)  I don't think that QuickBooks will handle the two separate VAT returns but with all the flexibility that it offers, you should be able to work around it.  Be careful when doing your VAT returns as it is likely that they will be presented to you in your home currency and you will need to file each return in the relevant local currency.  

3. Irish payroll:  Again we do both Irish and UK payrolls and I am expert in Irish and competent in UK.  Take it from me that, overall, the Irish system (including compliance with the Revenue obligations) is significantly more streamlined and logical overall.  (To digress slightly, filing and paying an Irish PAYE return takes a fraction of the time that the UK one takes.)

No-one should do Irish payroll using any of the Revenue tools!  There are quite a few cheap and effective packages.  Collsoft is an outstanding software package and is very easy to use.  €140 per year for one user and up to three payrolls.  I recommend it.  However, I have no experience of Payback but it seems to be ok.  I note from its website that it does a comparison with two Sage packages and the cheaper one of them is very poor indeed so it is not much competition.  Both of these will do the job much better than the way you are muddling through at present.  Money well spent, whichever one you buy.

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Replying to IANTO:
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By Isla
19th Jul 2014 17:32

Thanks for your reply, I am still looking at systems but work and life has been getting in the way for the last couple of weeks so only returning to look at this now.

I am just surprised that you find the Irish tax system better, I have really had difficulty understanding it. Everything seems to be so obscure and it is hard to actually find information on the Revenue website which explains the processes.  I am used to working with the UK system and although far from perfect seems to me so easy to understand by comparison.   I often think that it is not the UK system which is difficult it's the revenue staff.  By comparison I have found the Irish Revenue staff really helpful and willing to actually reply to emails and questions, something which seems to be impossible for UK revenue staff to do. In fact the Irish Revenue staff have even returned my phone calls and have been very polite and helpful, now that is a step too far for the UK.

If it was my money it would have been spent and systems in place long ago, but it's not.  Making the point that the whole process would work better if a little money was spent on it rather than squandered on equestrian interests, pursuits and the entertainment that goes with it is very hard work indeed.

Just the value of one receipt for money spent on things I must admit to seeing as excessive extravagence would have put a good system in place long ago.  But nowt I can do about that.

 

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By carnmores
18th Jul 2014 16:52

i agree
Quick books and you can use classes as well but stick with the desktop version

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By Isla
19th Jul 2014 17:28

I am looking at an accounts system called Fusion Accounts, they are based in Northern Ireland so are already used to the two VAT registrations problem.

Not really had time to dig through the system yet to see what it does and does not do but may be an option.  Has anyone any experience of this system?

Just thinking if September's YES vote is successful in Scotland we may all be looking at new accounting challenges.

Now how many years is it until I can retire and put it all behind me???  No there's no light at the end of the tunnel yet and that faint glimmer of one is actually a train coming.

 

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