Contractors - who does your books ?

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martyyn

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#261446 28-Nov-2019 09:08

My wife and I both have our own businesses. We both use Xero and use an accountant we've known for years.

But this year's cost is $5000 for us both and I'm wondering how that compares given all invoicing and expenses are done by us in Xero.

Anyone care to add what they are paying, or if they do it themselves through Xero ?

Thanks.

muppet

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#2362028 28-Nov-2019 09:11

My wife is a contractor, she uses hnry and by all accounts (haha terrible pun, sorry) she loves it.

I'm a salaried pleb, so I can't vouch for it, but it certainly seems to be working for her, no more visits to a semi-usless accountant, having to worry she hasn't put enough tax aside and all that sort of stuff that makes you want to stab out your eyes.

timmmay

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#2362070 28-Nov-2019 09:25

I was using Markhams - they change their name every year or so but it's all variants of the same thing. I did most of the work in Xero, they just did tax returns PAYE / GST - not full financial statements. When it hit about $2K for a simple business I took over doing the tax returns myself. With Xero and the information on the IRD website it's quite easy.

The only reason I had them originally was Xero wasn't around at the time, and I had depreciation and overseas income making things difficult. Xero does that now, so accountant no longer required for basic tax returns.

BlinkyBill

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#2362122 28-Nov-2019 10:04

What sort of businesses?

I have a good friend who is a programme director. She bills per hour, one or maybe two clients at a time. She uses a spreadsheet for timesheets (free), a spreadsheet template for monthly invoicing (free), the IRD cashbook for annual accounts (free), Dropbox for receipts (free), and does her own GST returns and annual tax returns and provisional tax.

i have another friend who sells goods, it’s a small one person business involving purchase of raw materials, sales of finished goods, and some operating expenses with some depreciable equipment. She uses Xero (can’t tell you how much this costs) and an accountant once per year to prepare eoy accounts and returns.

So the type of business is useful to understand.

itxtme

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#2362123 28-Nov-2019 10:04

Does the 5k include your subs on Xero? Seems expensive if you genuinely do the work. Are you on a monthly plan with them or do you just pay an invoice?

Shindig

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#2362126 28-Nov-2019 10:09

John Norton accounting.

6month GST and yearly tax return

The little things make the biggest difference.

martyyn

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#2362131 28-Nov-2019 10:15

Looking at hnry is interesting.

My income is relatively stable and I already split tax and gst amounts on a per invoice basis with my own spreadsheet. My expenses are reasonably stable as well as I've been doing this for years. I do however buy a fair number of items which incur depreciation which I'd need to learn about.

At the end of the year though the costs aren't all that much cheaper than my accountant and they have my tax money in their account for the year rather than it set against our mortgage.

My wife's income fluctuates greatly over the year so it will be much harder to give hnry an initial estimate. If you guess too high cash flow at the start can be tight, too low and you will definitely be playing catch up at the end.

@blinkbill

We're both billing at an hourly rate. I used to do everything myself for invoicing and spreadsheets. I have a lot of repeating invoices and having Xero auto generate them does save me time.

My wife requires a trust account and I think the peice of mind for her is more valuable that saving a grand a year.

@itxtme

I should have been more clear about that. It includes Xero monthly fees and GST. We pay Xero monthly.

The more I think about it, the more I think we're not actually getting a bad deal.

timmmay

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#2362176 28-Nov-2019 10:40

With Xero you pay your $30 to $60 a month, it does expenses, asset depreciation, prepares and submits GST returns for you, and provides the information to submit other tax returns. No need for spreadsheets at all. For standard stuff you don't need an accountant. I even managed to work out how to claim for home office expenses based on floor area, by looking how the accountant did it.

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filboz

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#2362262 28-Nov-2019 11:49

I use Fox Office, they change me $150 per month for Xero including payroll, and end of year returns, another contractor put me on to them, way back!

I do the GST and PAYE through Xero and irFile myself...

Their pricing is here: https://www.foxoffice.co.nz/pricing

guyl

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#2362276 28-Nov-2019 12:21

I use Beany.com. They are a virtual company, and everything is done online. Great to deal with, and you pay a fixed monthly fee (So no big bills after tax time).

A breath of fresh air from my old accountants. They were slow, difficult to deal with, and I had to go in a couple of times of year to see them. And the bills were horrendous..

MikeB4

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#2362280 28-Nov-2019 12:27

I draw on my accounting learning and do my own books. I have a friend who is an accounted who gives them a look over gratis in return for my providing gratis tech support. The arrangement saves a handful of readies and is mutually advantageous. Personally I feel if one is a contracting sole trader an investment in an accounting course is well worth it.

edit; I will add for disclosure that I am currently not doing any work until my health issues are resolved and as it has been a while I will need to catch up on latest requirements for IRD etc

ANglEAUT

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#2362396 28-Nov-2019 18:43

I use a local accountant.

Beside my one man company, I have shares & P2P lending investments making things to complicated for hnry.

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

mugs2000

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#2363852 1-Dec-2019 10:06

The accounting software that I have been using for the last 20 years is 'cashbook complete' by acclaim.co.nz. They charge a one-off fee to purchase, and issue free updates.

It does everything (including GST) except for purchase orders & depreciation which need to be done manually. When the accountants bumped up the accounting fees, I decided to do it all myself last year and saved me a small bundle.

Disclaimer: the scale of the business is small; sufficient to complement my superannuation.

RickW

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#2363854 1-Dec-2019 10:22

I’m in Christchurch and have a package deal, for Xero and accountant with unlimited phone support we pay $2100 a year excluding. We do our own invoicing too. We are pretty happy with that.

Ford

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#2372135 10-Dec-2019 22:52

I work as a a bookkeeper in the chartered accounting industry (in amongst PC repair).

I do all the Xero work for my client chartered accoutant's customers. I prepare draft end of year financials and tax returns.

I also use MYOB essentials.

I also prepare my own company's and personal tax returns on Accountants Office.

My bookkeeping data processing hourly rate is $30.00 per hour plus GST (cost of software on top of that) because I am not a reseller or partner of Xero or any other software company.