As a contractor, you have an accountant, you pay your fees, you get your accounts… and that’s it.
Or is it?
This is a very short post about the telltale signs that you might not be getting the best advice from your accountant.
The signs:
- You are getting paid the minimum salary on the advice of your accountant and are drawing the rest in dividends.
While this may be an effective strategy it may not be best for your personal circumstances. To really help you here, your accountant should know your personal and business goals in short and medium term. Perhaps you are planning a 1 year sabbatical soon? Or going back to being an employee? Your accountant should proactively seek to understand your goals in order to best help you.
- You have not talked about saving for retirement with your accountant.
You could be missing on significant tax savings here. With the top slice of the income for most contractors taxed as 52.5%, you could be growing your retirement pot instead of the chancellors coffers.
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- You have a spouse which is not utilizing their dividend allowance in full.
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- You are not talking with your accountant about growing your business.
While this is specifically tailored for contractors it will also apply to most small business with a single director-owner.
At Shubraka as chartered accountants we do accounts… and a lot more.
