Hi ???

Some of us answered your first post back in October but we did not get a response.

We cannot provide a response if you don't answer the questions we ask because we are then stabbing in the dark!

Obviously some of the information you have included here provides some information now about your background, as asked in that initial post, but there were other questions, certainly at least one still outstanding. Please note we try to help people and provide answers to questions all for free, giving up our own spare time, so an acknowledgement of such goes a long way to getting future help.

Another question-why do some of the properties need manual accounts, rather than using quickbooks? Have you had any time whatsoever with the Accountant to gather information from him/do you have access to ALL files, folders, word/excel etc or was the previous bookkeeper self employed hence why some of the files are 'missing'?

-- Edited by Cheshire on Tuesday 20th of December 2016 12:17:45 AM

Hi Shan
The o/s question is - what sort of Quickbooks? Is it the desktop version ( and what year) or quickbooks online?

Are you confident with what can be INCLUDED in the allowable expenses for such a business in terms of tax?

Hi Shan
In your previous role you would need to understand what is allowable for claiming the VAT back to be able to do the VAT returns, plus also what was an allowable business expense so that anything that was not 'wholly and exclusively' business related would be keyed to the Directors Loan account/sole traders drawings account in sage.

This role is just the same except you happen to be using different software and it is in a different business sector. So eg if you see a receipt for food shopping you would in this case post it to drawings.

The main difference with your new role is that its in a different sector and therefore you would follow the main rules you will have learnt, either via your AAT course or picked up via reading up the HMRC regulations, the wholly and exclusively rule AND then any sector specifi rules. The property sector has some of its own additional considerations which are very important to read up on and ensure you get riight- as bookkeeper you need to be grouping your costs and income in the correct place, otherwise the Accountant might as well be doing the work from scratch in the first instance.

Also note that the property sector has gone through some huge changes in terms of what is claimable and what is not, so in a lot of respects this will make your job easier as the HMRC site is awash with the new regulations- do a search and you will find what you need in the general advice sections on the gov uk site, but you will also need to get to the HMRC manuals as these will be more helpful. They can be found on searches too.

Take great care when doing searches though that you do NOT use other websites as a lot of the old advice is still floating around and as you say you are unaware of such, you could be choosing the wrong information and this could lead to the tax returns being completed all wrong, when the Acountant does his part later as he/she is relying a lot on your data input.

If you are unsure of some of the items, or your employer says they are business but you disagree, it might be with setting up an account within quickbooks labelled 'query-for Accountant to sort' so at the very least they are highlighted to them.

One example of where folk go very wrong is in relation to the mortgage question, where generally the only allowable expense is the actual mortgage interest and NOT the monthly repayments/loan itself. Generally also you only get such mortgage interest information once a year so you can more or less ignore the mortgage. Such information as this is absolutely key to getting the expenses right either in your quickbooks software or via excel. Such information particular to your business case can be found in the HMRC manuals.

Given everything you have already said on both posts, I get the feeling that you may be out of your depth on this one so would strongly suggest a call to the Accountant NOW, ie way before year end/tax period so that they understand you have not been making allowances for ineligible items/the mess it's been left in (they may want to come in and review the situation), so you find out how they would prefer you to proceed ie via quickbooks or spreadsheets, if they have access to your quickbooks already so they can see it, via their Accountants version or accessing your server remotely or other method etc.

In terms of quickbooks desktop, you should be able to get access to the reports from the top ribbon on your screen, where you have the file option on the left, the reports should be almost at the other end.

You should be able to set up at least 99 companies on this version so you have room to set up more, sole trader/partnerships. Strictly speaking for all those owned by one person you can lump into one quickbooks sole trader account. Or just a simple excel with income for each month and a list of (allowable) expenses for each property-depends what your boss AND the Acountant need. Hence why that call should be made now.

I have a client who has a small property portfolio and he needs to see income v expenditure on each site so I split it into departments so I can get the reports. Not sue if QB has departments, maybe ask that on another thread, but take care with your question heading as a lot of people don't read everything.

In terms of training, there are quite a few you tube videos you can watch, mostly American or Canadian, but mostly they are using the same version, you can tell a couple of seconds in if its not.

Re the missing invoices.....approach ALL of your regular suppliers and ask them for FULL activity lists from say beginning of last financial year. Not statements as that only shows what is o/s, but you need a full list of everything they have issued to you and the payments received so you can start to reconcile the supplier accounts.

HI Shan and Joanne,

Just a quickie, Quickbooks you can set classes up for individual properties, can't quite remember where it is but it is there as I have used them.

sorry for quick response very busy day today!

NEWBOOK wrote:

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Hi Cheshire

Thank you so much for your quick reply. This will be so useful. Actually the other problem that I have with this company is that I am not even allowed to speak to the Accountants for any query. I have two other clients I work for and there is absolutely no problem at all in phoning their accountants and asking for advice. So I can't even move from A to B. Self Assesment for year 2013-2014 has not even been submitted and the guy is paying penalty after penalty.

I will look up on the reading side on HMRC website on property as suggested by you. And maybe take up a course on AAT bookkeeping Level 3 and 4 to brush up my skills.

Regards
Shan

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 Hi Shan

Sounds like you are between a rock and a hard place.  Have to say you need a strong word with this guy, although I might be tempted to even suggest you look for another job.  Some people you just cannot ever sort out and it just then becomes a problem working for them, which just causes ever increasing frustration.  Sounds like the Accountant doesnt have much say otherwise they wouldve sorted them out long ago.