Trades

Busy every day and still not sure what you made.

Electricians, plumbers, heating engineers, joiners and decorators. Plenty of work, a van full of receipts, and Making Tax Digital now asking for the numbers four times a year.

Independent practice since 2001 · ICAEW Chartered Accountants · Xero Silver Partner

What we see

The pattern in this sector.

Most tradespeople we meet are good at the work and short of time for everything else. The paperwork happens in the evenings, receipts live in the van, and the books get done in one go when the tax return is due. That worked for years. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax ends it for sole traders over the threshold, because quarterly updates need records that are kept as you go.

The commercial question is usually pricing. Day rates and quotes get set by what the market will bear, and materials, travel and the time spent quoting jobs that never happen get absorbed without anyone adding them up. A busy year can make less money than a quieter one.

The fix is rarely complicated. A bank feed, invoicing in the same software, a photo of each receipt when it happens, and a look at margin by type of job a few times a year.

Watch outs

Where it goes wrong.

Vans and vehicles. Whether a vehicle counts as a van or a car changes the tax treatment, the capital allowances and any benefit in kind if you trade through a company. Double cab pick-ups are a common trap.

VAT registration. The threshold is tested on a rolling twelve months, not the tax year. Trades close to it often cross it mid-year without noticing, and late registration means paying VAT you never charged.

CIS. If you work for main contractors in construction, deductions are taken at source and need claiming back properly. If you take on subcontractors yourself, the obligations reverse.

Sole trader or limited company. Incorporating can save tax, but less than it used to, and it adds cost and admin. Worth running the numbers rather than following what a mate did.

What we do

The whole job, on a fixed monthly fee.

Business accounting

Year-end accounts, corporation tax, VAT and payroll, done properly and done early.

Bookkeeping

In-house bookkeepers alongside the accountants, so the numbers are current rather than annual.

Live reporting

Margin by job, product or client, refreshed rather than rebuilt. Where the sector-specific answers actually live.

Finance Partner

A whole finance team on one fixed monthly fee, when you need more than compliance.

Talk to someone who has seen it before.

A first conversation costs nothing and takes about half an hour. We will tell you what we would do and what it would cost.