Net Monthly Account

 
Our usual terms of payment are the standard 30 days’ Net Monthly Account (sometimes it’s spelled Nett). We can advise on debt collection ourselves, so we want to get our clients familiar with commercial norms.

However, we are specialists on producing accounts and tax returns at the last minute, and in fairness to ourselves, we have a few variations :
 

Cash on Delivery if Only a Month to Go

 
If you bring in your records with just a month to go, then we will prepare your accounts and tax return and send them to you. When you sign and return them, we request a cheque for the full fee. You will of course be able to see what you are paying for, and we get an incentive to expedite the job.

Where we arrange that you can provide an electronic signature, we request an electronic payment to our bank account. We can e-mail the payment details to you. We also frequently e-mail payment details which are colour-coded for the different taxes. We are geared up to doing things quickly in several ways.

If January 31st is the deadline, then the month starts on December 27th.
 

50% Cash Up Front if Past the First Deadline

 
If you have passed the first deadline, then we request a cheque for half our estimate at the time that you hand in your records, and a cheque for the balance when you return the signed accounts.

If the first deadline was January 31st for an income tax return, then the next deadline is 30 days later on March 2nd (March 1st in a leap year). In the case of a small company, if the first deadline is passed then there is a penalty of 150 pounds, which rises to 375 pounds a month later if the second deadline is passed. These penalties are doubled for a subsequent late submission.
 

100% Cash up Front if Past the Second Deadline

 
If you pass the second deadline a month later, then we will estimate your fee and ask for a payment of 100% at the time that you hand in your records.
 

We don’t have much Experience of Being Past the Deadline

 
Different accountants specialise in different areas. Our speciality is in the use of new technology like Optical Character Recognition to do things both quickly and in fewer chargeable hours. It is human nature to leave things to the last minute, and many will then discover that they have left it too late for the first deadline, but they can meet the second. We can cater for this. However, if you are well past the second deadline then you may find that other accountants are better able to negotiate with the Revenue or with Companies House on your behalf.