Accountants in Hampton Wick

New companies often have a long first accounting period, which can mean two corporation tax returns for one set of accounts. It's normal, but it's exactly the kind of thing that's cheaper to get right first time than to unpick.

The honest answer changes with your profits. At lower profits, sole trader simplicity usually wins; as profits grow, a limited company's mix of salary and dividends, corporation tax rates and liability protection starts earning its extra admin. We run the actual numbers before recommending either.

Every tax bill is predictable months in advance — which makes tax the most plannable cost a business has. A separate tax savings account, fed a fixed percentage of every sale, converts January from a crisis into a transfer.

Register with HMRC by the 5 October after your first tax year of trading, open a separate business account, and put a fixed slice of every payment aside for tax. Do those three things and your first January will be boring — the good kind.

Compliance checks are usually specific: one return, one figure, one question. Answered promptly and with evidence, most close quickly. The expensive enquiries are the ones that started as unanswered letters.

Compare accountants on the things that bite later: is the fee fixed and written down, what exactly is included, who does the work, how fast do they answer in January. Proximity to Hampton Wick stopped being the differentiator the day filings went electronic.

If you're a sole trader or landlord anywhere near the £50,000 income mark, Making Tax Digital will change your filing rhythm from 2026: four digital updates a year plus a final declaration. Clients who move their records to software early find the transition a non-event.

People stay with the wrong accountant for years because switching feels disruptive. In practice the profession has a standard handover process — clearance letters, copies of prior returns and working papers — and the new firm drives it, not you.