Self Assessment handovers for the 2025/26 return are open until December onboarding is full. Start an enquiry
Limited companies · Sole traders · Landlords
Lucid Vale runs the bookkeeping, payroll, VAT and tax cycle for owner-managed businesses on a fixed monthly fee — with one named accountant who knows your ledger and replies within a working day.
The practice
Most problems we are asked to fix started as a records gap eleven months earlier. So the work is arranged around the month, not the deadline: records in by the tenth, reconciliation and a short plain-English summary back to you by the twentieth, and no surprises when the return is filed. Ledgers are kept in your software under your own licence, so nothing is locked behind us.
Statutory accounts, corporation tax, director payroll and dividend planning, confirmation statement and Companies House filings.
Self Assessment, partnership returns, simplified or accruals basis advice, and the switch-to-limited conversation when the numbers justify it.
Property income schedules, allowable expenses and finance-cost relief, plus side-income reporting for people already taxed through PAYE.
Services
Each lane lists what is produced and how often. Engagements usually combine two or three; the cadence is agreed in writing before anything starts.
Your ledger kept current in Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent, reconciled against the bank rather than against last year's guesswork.
Scheme choice reviewed before registration, then returns prepared, checked with you and filed under Making Tax Digital.
Run for teams from one director upwards, including starters, leavers, statutory pay and workplace pension submissions.
Year-end work drafted from records we already know, with the tax position explained before anything is submitted.
Fee orientation
Indicative monthly bands so you can judge fit before booking a call. The figure that matters is the fixed quote you receive after we have seen your records.
Bookkeeping review, annual accounts and one Self Assessment return, with a mid-year liability forecast so January is not a surprise.
Monthly bookkeeping and management figures, quarterly VAT, statutory accounts, corporation tax and the director's own return.
Monthly or weekly runs including pension submissions, starters and leavers, and year-end payroll forms.
Catch-up work on late or incomplete years is quoted separately as a one-off, never rolled quietly into the monthly fee. Fees are fixed for twelve months and reviewed with you, not adjusted mid-year. The first conversation is not charged.
The compliance year
The dates that shape a UK tax year, and what we do around each one. Clients receive a reminder two weeks ahead of anything that needs money or a signature.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 6 April | New tax year. Payroll codes, thresholds and any salary change applied to the first run. |
| 31 May | P60s issued to everyone on your payroll at the year end. |
| 6 July | Benefits and expenses return filed where cars, loans or private cover apply. |
| 31 July | Second Self Assessment payment on account due; we forecast it in June. |
| 5 October | Deadline to register if you became liable to file for the first time. |
| 30 December | Cut-off if you want tax collected through next year's PAYE code instead of a lump sum. |
| 31 January | Online return filed, balancing payment and first payment on account due. |
| Every quarter | VAT return approved and filed; management figures reviewed on a call. |
| Nine months after year end | Corporation tax payable; statutory accounts filed within twelve. |
Getting started
Usually two to three weeks end to end, and you can switch mid-year — we handle the handover, including the letter to your previous accountant.
Thirty minutes on your structure, software, what is filed and what is behind. No charge and no obligation.
We look at the last filed accounts and the current ledger, then send one fixed quote with the cadence written out.
Engagement letter, identity checks, HMRC agent authorisation and professional clearance with your outgoing accountant.
Opening balances agreed, reminders set, and your first monthly summary lands on the twentieth.
Questions
The seven things people ask most often on a first call.
Yes, and most clients do. We write for professional clearance, request the trial balance and tax computations, and agree opening balances with you before touching the current year. You do not need to have a difficult conversation with anyone; a short instruction to us is enough.
Xero, QuickBooks Online and FreeAgent, plus receipt capture tools that connect to them. The subscription stays in your name so the records remain yours. If you are still on spreadsheets we will keep going that way for a quarter before recommending a move, so the change is not bundled into onboarding.
Included: the recurring lanes in your engagement letter, reminders, and the calls and emails that come with normal trading. Quoted separately: catch-up work on earlier years, HMRC enquiries, company restructuring, valuations, and one-off projects such as a funding application pack. You will always see a figure before that work starts.
Within one working day from your named accountant, and same-day in the fortnight before a filing or payment date. Anything needing research gets an acknowledgement with a date for the full answer rather than silence.
No. A good part of our work is with businesses below the threshold, where the question is whether voluntary registration helps or hurts. We track your rolling twelve-month turnover and tell you when registration is approaching rather than after it has been missed.
Bank and card statements or a live feed, sales invoices raised, purchase receipts, and a note of anything unusual — a new loan, an asset bought, an owner drawing. Most clients forward receipts as they arrive, which makes the tenth-of-the-month cut-off a non-event.
Bring it as it is. We sequence the oldest outstanding year first, quote the catch-up as a one-off, and deal with HMRC and Companies House correspondence on your behalf. Where penalties are already charged we will tell you plainly whether an appeal is realistic instead of promising an outcome.
Enquiry
A few lines is enough. We reply with either a time for an introductory call or an honest note that another practice would suit you better.