01235 867519

contact@JamesESmith.co.uk

Accountants for Small Service Businesses, Oxfordshire

Are you getting the right help for your small business?

We work with established small businesses and start-ups, whether operating as a limited company, partnership or a sole trade.  Based near Oxford we act predominantly with small service sector clients and those in the digital economy offering good quality services for a competitive fees.  We work locally in Oxfordshire and on a national basis.

We can advise on more than just tax, we often help business with much wider commercial aspects and act as a sounding board to your business ideas and problems

Our key services are:

  • Sole Trader and Partnership Accounts
  • Limited Company Accounts
  • Corporation Tax Returns
  • VAT Returns
  • Director’s PAYE
  • Business Advice
  • Tax Advice and Planning

Accountants for Small Service Businesses

Who are our clients?

In order to focus our services and ensure we give you good advice we like to work with:

  • Small service businesses – recruiters, letting agents and other professional services
More detail
We work with small service sectors firms with typically up to 5 employees. We support start ups, established businesses, and those who are growing.

Businesses with around 5 or more members of staff have quite different needs to smaller enterprises. By focusing on one size of client, we give better quality of service.

Our clients cover a wide range of sectors. What binds them is they primarily sell their time rather than physical products.

We can help with a wide range of issues including:

  • Accounting procedures & systems
  • Cash flow and collection
  • Business partners and investment
  • Tax implications of staff and benefits
  • Business sales and acquisition

One of the most rewarding things we do is helping a business transition from a ‘spare bedroom’ enterprise into a fully fledged business in its own right. We help make sure it’s done profitably with the risks of growth well managed. 

  • Digital services clients, including software developers
More detail
Whilst digital is now main stream, we have been working with digital clients since 2003 and our long experience makes up well placed to give good advice in this area.

The web has changed hugely since 2003 and its been challenging but rewarding to help clients evolve their business and develop new strategies to cope.

We have clients with many online business activities including advertising and referral models, domain name sales, hosting and more recently Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency miners.  By the time we add in software design, hosting and various e-commerce activities we have covered most areas.

This means can be sensitive to the sorts of challenges you are facing and know how to tackle problems in an integrated modern way.

Our digital services include:

  • Full cloud accounting
  • Integration help between accounting, billing and website
  • Application for R&D tax credits
  • Generally digital awareness and knowledge

James says: “This is an area of personal interest. Had the pull of business not led me to train as an accountant, I would have studied computing at university.”

More Detail
A key part of our work is with small businesses where you are the business, and you sell your time.

Whether one is the optimum size, or you are looking to grow, we can help.

For those with a limited company, our dedicated contractors pages should give you a good idea about our services which apply equally to traditional contractors and those who have slightly different arrangements, such as writers, creatives, consultants and other sellers of intellectual capital. If you are a sole trader, then the self assessment section will be relevant. 

Business start-ups

We work with lots of start-up businesses, and are happy to offer a generous level of help in your first year of trading.  We offer an initial free phone consultation to discuss your plans and for you to get to know us.

Read more
We typically cover in this conversation:

  • Your current plans, and and any suggestions we can make to improve them
  • Helping you decide between Limited Company and Sole Trader structures
  • If and when to register for VAT
  • How to keep basic records, we have free Excel templates you can use.
  • Giving you a list of dates and action points with HMRC

New businesses often only engage professional help when the tax returns are due, and therefore miss planning opportunities.   The reason for the delay? Worries about a large bills out of modest start up funds.  We therefore offer free or low cost assistance upfront, right when you need it most.

Ongoing we offer:

  • “Get you started” service for new limited companies
  • Fixed fees tax returns service
  • Generous levels of free phone and email support
  • Set-up and training for cloud software such as Xero
  • Someone you can talk to about your business

If you have a new startup, feel free to get into contact with us.

A cheap option for basic advice is James’s book “Keeping it Simple” published by Tax Cafe.  This covers many of the issues a start up faces in terms of bookkeeping, VAT, PAYE and general business topics.  It was specifically written to assist clients too small for an accountant, and to give cost effective background material.

If you have a new business, or an existing small business, especially in the service sector, we will be happy to hear from you. We can act for you regardless of whether you are near us (we are close to Wantage, south-west of Oxford) or further afield outside of Oxfordshire.