Filing season
Self-assessment slots for the January return are open through 12 December. Ask for a review date.
Sole traders · Limited companies · Landlords
Amber Quill is a small practice that keeps year-end accounts, self-assessment, VAT and payroll on a fixed quarterly rhythm — so nothing is reconstructed from a shoebox in January.
How the practice works
Most of the stress in a small business's accounts comes from leaving the work in one pile at the end of the year. We break it up and keep it visible.
You work with the same person from the first review onward. Questions get answered by someone who already knows how your income is structured and what we agreed last quarter.
Records are reconciled every quarter, with a short written summary of what the figures imply for tax. Surprises arrive with months of notice rather than days.
Anything we recommend comes with the reasoning in ordinary English: what it changes, what it costs, and what you need to keep on file to support it.
Services
Each lane below is a complete engagement rather than an à la carte list. If your circumstances span two of them, that is common and we price it as one piece of work.
For self-employed income, side work and partnerships
Built around a single self-assessment return, with the bookkeeping kept tidy as the year goes so allowable costs are not lost to missing records.
For directors of small and owner-managed companies
Statutory accounts, the corporation tax return and the director's own position handled together, so company and personal decisions are not made in isolation.
For single lets, portfolios and holiday rentals
Property income reported correctly per title, with the capital and revenue split documented at the time rather than argued about years later.
Key dates
This is the standard annual timetable for personal and small-company filing. You do not need to track it — but it is worth knowing what sits where, and which month we will be asking you for records.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| 5 April | The personal tax year closes.We ask for your final records in the weeks after this date, while the year is still fresh. |
| 31 July | Second payment on account falls due for self-assessment.We confirm the figure in June so the amount is never a surprise. |
| 5 October | Deadline to register for self-assessment for the year just ended.Relevant if you started trading, began letting a property, or crossed into higher-rate territory. |
| 31 October | Paper return deadline.We file online, so this date matters only if a paper submission is required for your circumstances. |
| 31 January | Online return, balancing payment and first payment on account all land together.Our aim is a signed-off return by the end of November, well clear of this date. |
| Quarterly | VAT returns under Making Tax Digital, one month and seven days after each period ends.Prepared from your bookkeeping records and submitted on your behalf. |
| Monthly | Payroll submissions and pension contributions for companies with staff or a director on payroll.Run on a fixed day each month that we agree with you. |
| 9 months after year end |
Corporation tax payment, with the company return due three months later.Both are prepared from the same statutory accounts and filed well before the limit. |
What's included
Every engagement is quoted as a fixed fee after a first review of your records. These three levels describe what that fee covers — ad-hoc work outside the agreed scope is always quoted separately, never added quietly.
The filings themselves, prepared accurately and submitted on time. Suited to straightforward affairs with records already in reasonable order.
Everything in level one, with the underlying records maintained through the year. The common choice for trading businesses and landlords with more than one property.
For decisions that need modelling before they are made — structure changes, a property disposal, taking on staff, or planning a profitable year.
Getting started
You can move practices at any point in the year, including part-way through an open return. We handle the handover with your previous accountant directly.
Thirty minutes to understand how you earn, what records exist and which deadlines are closest. No charge, and no obligation to continue.
A fixed fee and a defined scope, in writing, after we have actually seen the state of the records. The quote names what is and is not included.
We request information from your previous accountant, complete identity checks, and agree the software and the quarterly dates we will work to.
Your records are reconciled and you receive the first written summary — the point at which the year stops being a mystery.
Notes from the practice
None of this requires an accountant. It simply makes the work cheaper and the result more accurate when one arrives.
A dedicated business account is the single biggest time-saver in a small set of books. When business and personal spending share a statement, every line has to be judged individually — and the judgements get made months later, from memory. Separating accounts turns a day of reconstruction into an afternoon of reconciliation.
Thermal receipts fade and card statements rarely prove what was bought. A photo filed at the time, with the purpose noted, is enough to support a claim. The claims most often lost are not the large ones; they are the small, frequent costs nobody kept paperwork for.
For property work especially, the difference between a repair and an improvement rests on context — what condition the asset was in, and what the work was intended to achieve. A two-line note at the time is worth more than a detailed invoice three years later.
Questions
For a first conversation, nothing formal — a rough description of how you earn is enough. To quote accurately we then ask for bank statements for the period, any bookkeeping file or spreadsheet you keep, last year's accounts or return if one exists, and details of any property or payroll involved.
If your records are in poor shape, say so. It changes the quote, not the answer.
Yes, and it is routine. We write to your previous accountant for professional clearance and the information we need, including trial balances, capital allowance pools and tax computations. You do not have to mediate between the two of us.
The only timing to watch is a deadline falling within a few weeks of the switch; if that applies we will tell you plainly whether it is achievable.
Yes. We prepare the return from digital records and submit it through compatible software as your agent. If you are approaching the registration threshold we will flag it in advance and talk through the timing and the scheme options rather than registering reflexively.
Both are available. Compliance-only work is usually billed once per filing cycle. Engagements that include bookkeeping, VAT or payroll are billed monthly, since the work is spread across the year.
Either way the fee is fixed in writing before work begins, and anything outside the agreed scope is quoted before it is started.
We start with the filing itself, because penalties generally continue to accrue until the return is in. Once it is submitted we review whether the position can be corrected, what interest and penalties realistically apply, and whether there are grounds to appeal.
Late files are a normal part of the work. Bringing one to us does not make the conversation awkward.
No. Sole traders, partnerships and landlords make up a large share of the practice. If incorporating would genuinely improve your position we will model it and show you the figures — including the extra admin it brings, which is the part usually left out.
The mainstream cloud packages, and well-kept spreadsheets where the volume genuinely does not justify a subscription. We would rather adapt to a system you already use properly than migrate you to one you will abandon.
If a change is worth making, we handle the migration as part of setup rather than leaving you with a half-moved ledger.
Request a consultation
A short form is enough to begin. We read every enquiry ourselves and reply with either a proposed review date or an honest note that another practice would suit you better.