When Might You Need An Accountant?

Accountancy services are something that would benefit most of us at some point in our lives. However, most people don’t actually know when they would need an accountant, let alone how to go about instructing one to carry out affairs and complete documentation on our behalf.

Finding an accountant is easy, whether you use Google or your old-school local directory, or even look to your social media accounts and find someone who you know who now does the job. Of course, that still doesn’t answer the question of when exactly you might need an accountant.

Here are some examples of such times.

If You’re Self Employed

When you’re self-employed, you’re responsible for taking care of all your own financial affairs. The main example of this is when you have to complete your tax return. Even if you’re exceptionally organized with your finances and are great at keeping receipts and other documentation, you might find yourself stumped when it comes to completing a self-assessment form and calculating tax.

Ordinarily, making a simple mistake in life can be fixed easily, but when it comes to tax it could finish up costing you a lot of money, particularly if a resubmission ends up with you liable for a penalty charge and you find you’ve under declared your tax liability.

Self-employed individuals could use UK accounting at Friendly Accountants to help them complete their tax returns. They’re a well-established company with a great reputation for ensuring everything is completed prior to deadlines, and as long as you have your necessary documentation, you’ll achieve your objective easily.

When You’ve Started a Business

Shortly after receiving your business registration documents, you usually receive a letter from an accountant offering their services to you. Many new business owners look at this and think they don’t require such services as yet, so do nothing with it.

However, a business can use an accountancy service for far more than just filing tax returns; they can help you to take care of payroll, your own individual finances as above, as well as looking at everything across your business in order to make you more profitable.

Don’t wait until you think you need an accountant; make the connection now and start to build the relationship, and you’ll find they can make a big positive difference to your financial affairs.

If You Have a Second Income

There are different rules in different countries governing the tax you pay on a second income. In most cases, these are very confusing, so your best option is always to consult with an accountant.

Don’t be mistaken with the definition of a second income, either. A second income is not just what you earn from a second job, but can include any money you receive as rent from tenants, returns from investments, and even things you sell on eBay.

Again, sometimes it won’t be clear, so if you speak to an accountant you’ll be able to discover exactly what you’re liable for without unwittingly breaking any laws.

Darren is a financial services adviser who looks to inform people of their choices when it comes to accessing specialist financial services.