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Kate1


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Hi,

I have 1 bookkeeping client who is a self employed sole trader.  I have been preparing the profit/loss and balance sheet on a monthly basis for the past few months on a freelance basis. 

The client has now asked me to prepare the self assessment and has also asked whether I have bookkeepers insurance, this is not something that I have considered.  I am really just wanting to ask whether other bookkeepers that have just 1 client would consider insurance?  The premium seems costly for 1 client..

I'm thinking just to not do the self assessment as I don't have experience in this anyway and then the client can just have the self assessment done by someone else.  Does that sound ok to do in practice, ie I prepare the monthly accounts but have someone else more experienced to do the annual task of the self assessment and provide tax advice?  I just ask as the client is being a bit funny about having 2 people dealing with her accounts...

Thanks for any advice.

 



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Hal


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Kate

I would say that Professional Indemnity Insurance is essential if you are providing service to clients.

If you are not confident about doing the self assessment then you are probably right to decline [especially if you don't have any insurance in place!]

Not wishing to add to the regulatory burden but are you registered with HMRC for Money Laundering Regs?

HTH

Hal AFA FFTA

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Hal
fabs79


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Hi,

I think you should have professional indemnity insurance if you are providing your bookkeeping services to others (other than your own business). The number of clients does not really matter. The insurance is a safety net for both you and the client.
If you practice as a bookkeeper you also need to have supervision for "Anti Money Laundering Regulations" in place, either via a supervisory body or directly with HMRC.

I'm afraid you can't just "do the books for someone to help out" as it will be considered a business even if you are dealing with one client only. There are many details to iron out to be legal. It's not fun, but it's got to be done...  yawn

HTH

Fabs



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Sammy76


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I would wholly recommend paying the membership fee for BKN if you haven't already done so. I just got my insurance through doing this and saved over £30, incl membership on my previous years insurance.

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kjmcculloch83


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I had PII when I had one client. It cost me something like £46 per year and the client was only earning me £50 per month, but I think of what might have happened. It's like any other insurance, a pain when your paying it, and... I was going to write godsend when you need to claim, but it's really a pain there too.

I don't know whether that blows any point I was trying to make out of the water

A rather confused Kris

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fabs79


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Perhaps different degrees of pain Kris?  biggrin

 

Fabs



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FIXED FEE BOOKKEEPING  -  PAYROLL MANAGEMENT  -  SELF-ASSESSMENT TAX RETURNS  -  VAT ACCOUNTING
Kate1


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many thanks everyone for your advise, I'm looking into it all...

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