Help! What's this Sodding Accountant up to?

RedRabbit

Bellycaster said:

Thanks @RedRabbit ;

A very good detailed breakdown there. I would dread to have to ring HMRC though, that can be painful

He does have my UTR as well, I supplied him with that at the time.

Honestly, for something as straight forward as whether or not a return has been submitted HMRC should be very easy to deal with. 

spark240

Be worth registering yourself online anyway with HMRC, just for the future, you can at least look back at all the records they hold for you.

Bellycaster

spark240 said:

Be worth registering yourself online anyway with HMRC, just for the future, you can at least look back at all the records they hold for you.

Am I allowed to do that if the return has been sent by the accountant @spark240 ;

Just don't want to incur any penalty or moans from HMRC that'a all

Bellycaster

57Deluxe said:

I see where you wen wrong - you should've engaged a Soldering Accountant...

A bit too tenuous for a Lol that one.

RedRabbit

Bellycaster said:

spark240 said:

Be worth registering yourself online anyway with HMRC, just for the future, you can at least look back at all the records they hold for you.

Am I allowed to do that if the return has been sent by the accountant @spark240 ;

Just don't want to incur any penalty or moans from HMRC that'a all

You can set up your own login for HMRC to get access to your details regardless of who files your return.  You'll probably not be able to get a copy of the filed return but you will probably be able to get an idea if anything has been filed as it should tell you what will be due for payment come 31st Jan.

m_c

You can login to the HMRC website and see if anything has been filed, and how much money you're due them if they have been filed.

ESBlonde

Your bill is likely to be the agreed £100 and to him that is a very low priority compared to other work that is ongoing and likely to be an overall better prospect. For professional time is money - they book all time to a client and bill accordingly. If they write a letter to you or take your phone call a 1/4 hour probably gets added to the bill. In addition most professional accountants employ younger or unqualified staff to do most of the detail work and just oversee it and do the communication with the client to keep the cost down. All standard proceedure and your file is sitting on his desk under a pile of others that will duly get resolved.

Modulus_Amps

wow, for that sort of money I would not be paying an accountant to do it, the online form is really easy to follow through and there is still time to register to do it.

Surprised he is doing it for £100 to be honest, seems hardly worth the money from a professional point of view, might be the reason for his tardiness.

Blueingreen

I think you're worrying about nothing tbh.  Accountants are very deadline orientated, if you're well ahead of any deadlines they will assume there's no urgency whatsoever.  His obligation is to file the return before the deadline (which he's already done, very early - I bet yours is in the first 10% filed) and make sure you know what to pay before the liability comes due.  So basically yes, he's following standard procedure.

He's also charging a remarkably low price and will probably feel that entitles you to a professional and polite but bare-bones service.  He will think he is doing what is necessary on your behalf and that he shouldn't need to spend time reassuring you that that is the case.  He's probably budgeting not much more than an hour for £100; he's probably beyond that already with the meeting and the work done, and he won't think you're entitled to extra explanatory phone calls at no additional charge.

Bellycaster

I might be worrying about nothing @Blueingreen and it's OK that I am low priority obviously, but you have to put yourself in my shoes too, it might get to Oct 30th and I realise he hasn't done it and then it has to be done online and I've wasted 3 months.

He'd already done the Maths for the accounts in 15 minutes or so while I was there, it literally was that easy.

I've heard stories of submitting online ranging between dead easy and fucking nightmare @Modulus_Amps enough to put me off it anyway.

I might register for the online anyway as some have suggested, then I can see for myself if owt has been sent in.

Modulus_Amps

Bellycaster said:

I might be worrying about nothing @Blueingreen and it's OK that I am low priority obviously, but you have to put yourself in my shoes too, it might get to Oct 30th and I realise he hasn't done it and then it has to be done online and I've wasted 3 months.

He'd already done the Maths for the accounts in 15 minutes or so while I was there, it literally was that easy.

I've heard stories of submitting online ranging between dead easy and fucking nightmare @Modulus_Amps enough to put me off it anyway.

I might register for the online anyway as some have suggested, then I can see for myself if owt has been sent in.

Once you have registered for self assessment you can fill the form in to see how it works without submitting the form, so no risk.

But I understand your hesitation, I use an accountant for my engineering ltd company accounts

Bellycaster

So, just to update this. The accountant did submit a return on July 26th. I didn't know at the time as I had not registered for online self assessment. I have since registered.

The downside is that the accountant never even told me at the time that he'd submitted it and I have seen no copy of my return. I can't get to see it online either.

At some point I will have to ring up HMRC for them to answer a few questions. I'm just hoping now that the accountant does not renege on his agreement with the fee.

@RedRabbit has been good enough to help me along on the sidelines, so this is just an update to anyone else who gave advice on the thread.

Thanks.