It is the question everyone types into Google and almost no accountancy firm answers on its own website. Ask for a price and you get “it depends”, a contact form, and a wait.
It does depend. But “it depends” is not an answer on its own, so here is what you are actually paying for at each level, what moves a fee up or down, and how to pay less without getting less.
What you are paying for
One-off Self Assessment tax return. The simplest job on this list: one employment or trade, some bank interest, maybe a rental property. Multiple properties, capital gains or foreign income add work, and the fee rises with it.
Sole trader, annual package. Accounts plus the tax return. Tidy records keep this modest. Messy records push it up faster than anything else on this list.
Sole trader or landlord in Making Tax Digital. MTD adds four quarterly updates and a final declaration to the year, so a fixed package costs more than the old once-a-year return. This is new territory for everyone since April 2026, and pricing varies widely between firms. Ask exactly what the fee includes.
Limited company, small. Statutory accounts, the corporation tax return, the confirmation statement and a director’s Self Assessment. Most firms quote this as a fixed monthly fee.
Limited company with payroll and VAT. The fee scales with transaction volume, number of employees, and how much you do yourself in the software. Payroll is usually priced per payslip, and VAT returns per quarter.
Bookkeeping. Hourly, or a fixed monthly fee tied to transaction volume. Many businesses now do most of this themselves in software and pay the accountant for review rather than data entry.
Ad-hoc advice. Usually hourly, depending on seniority. Anything genuinely specialist (R&D claims, inheritance tax planning, company restructuring) is usually quoted as a fixed project fee.
What actually drives the price
Four things, in order of impact.
The state of your records. This is the big one. Clean digital records in accounting software, reconciled monthly, can halve the fee compared with a carrier bag of receipts in January. You are paying for the accountant’s time, and disorganisation buys more of it.
Volume and complexity. Two hundred transactions a month costs more than twenty. Three income streams cost more than one. A group of companies costs more than a single limited company.
Structure. A limited company has statutory filings a sole trader does not, so it always costs more to run, even when the business inside it is identical. The tax savings usually justify it above roughly £40,000 to £50,000 of profit, but factor the compliance cost into that maths.
When you show up. An accountant who gets your records in April can plan. One who gets them on 20 January can only file. Late arrivals often pay a premium, and they always miss the planning opportunities that save more than the fee.
Fixed fee or hourly?
The market has largely moved to fixed annual or monthly fees, and that is the right answer for most small businesses. You know the cost, the accountant is incentivised to be efficient, and there is no meter running when you ring with a question.
Hourly billing still has its place for genuinely unpredictable work, such as an HMRC enquiry or a one-off project. If a firm quotes you hourly for routine compliance, ask why. And whatever the model, get an engagement letter that says exactly what is included. Most fee disputes are really scope disputes.
The Northern Ireland picture
NI rates sit below London and broadly in line with the rest of the regional UK. A Belfast city-centre firm with a big office will generally quote higher than a sole practitioner working from home; you are paying for capacity and depth of team, which matters more as your business grows.
The bigger local difference is service model. Some firms are pure compliance shops: accounts filed, returns done, speak to you next year. Others, and we are in this camp, run on cloud software all year round. That changes what you get for the fee: live records, questions answered when they arise, and no year-end archaeology.
MTD has changed what the fee buys
Since April 2026, sole traders and landlords over £50,000 of gross income are in Making Tax Digital: digital records, four quarterly updates a year, and a final declaration. The £30,000 cohort joins in April 2027.
That changes the shape of an accountant’s work from one annual push to a quarterly rhythm, and fees are moving from “a tax return” to “a year of keeping you compliant”. When you compare quotes, check three things: does the fee include all four quarterly updates and the final declaration, who does the bookkeeping that feeds them, and how is the software handled?
Software arrangements differ between firms, so ask the question. We run Sage Accounting in-house, and we deal with the software for our clients: it is part of our service, we set it up, and the only thing we need from you is the bank feed, which we organise with you. The fee covers setup, training, the quarterly updates and the final declaration. Whoever you use, insist on that level of clarity.
How to pay less without getting less
- Keep digital records and keep them current. The single biggest lever. Software plus a weekly fifteen-minute habit beats any negotiation.
- Use a separate bank account for the business. Untangling personal and business spending is billable time.
- Capture receipts as you go, with a tool such as AutoEntry, not in a January shoebox.
- Send everything early. Records in by the summer, not by the deadline.
- Bundle sensibly. Accounts, tax, payroll and VAT with one firm is usually cheaper than three suppliers, and the left hand knows what the right is doing.
- Do not buy on price alone. The cheapest quote usually excludes the things you will need, and a missed relief costs more than the saving.
Red flags in a cheap quote
A suspiciously low fee usually means one of four things: the scope excludes essentials (payroll, VAT, the director’s personal return), the work is being rushed through with minimal review, everything beyond the basics triggers an extra charge, or the firm is loss-leading and the price rises sharply in year two.
Ask what is not included. That question tells you more than the headline number. If you are weighing up a move, our guide to switching accountants covers what to check.
Is an accountant worth it at all?
For a PAYE employee with no other income: probably not, and an honest firm will say so.
For anyone self-employed, a landlord over the MTD threshold, or running a company, the fee is usually recovered before the tax planning even starts. Allowable expenses claimed properly, the right salary and dividend mix, capital allowances, timing of purchases against the tax year: any one of these routinely covers an annual fee. Add the hours of your own time back, and the compliance risk removed, and the real question is not whether to have an accountant but whether the one you have is doing more than filing.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I pay for an accountant? It depends on your structure, the volume of work and the state of your records. A single Self Assessment return sits at the low end, a limited company with payroll and VAT at the higher end. Whatever the quote, ask exactly what it includes.
How much does an accountant charge per hour in the UK? Hourly rates vary with seniority and specialism, and bookkeeping is charged at a lower rate than advice. Most routine work is now quoted as a fixed fee rather than hourly.
How much does an accountant cost for a small limited company? It covers the core compliance (statutory accounts, corporation tax, confirmation statement, director’s return) and rises with payroll, VAT and transaction volume. Usually billed monthly as a fixed fee.
How much does a Self Assessment tax return cost? A straightforward return costs least. Multiple properties, capital gains or foreign income add work, and the fee reflects that.
Does Making Tax Digital make an accountant more expensive? It adds quarterly work, so annual packages for MTD clients tend to cost more than the old once-a-year return. Good software and clean records absorb most of that; the fee buys year-round compliance rather than a January scramble.
Can I do it all myself with software? Software files the numbers you give it; it does not know the reliefs you have not claimed or the structure you should be trading under. Plenty of people self-file happily. The ones who should not are usually the ones who do.
Do accountants charge for the first meeting? Many do not, and we do not. A first conversation about your situation and an exact fixed quote costs you nothing.
Talk to us about an exact price
Every fee is set to the work involved. For your actual number, tell us your structure, your rough turnover, and the state of your records, and we will give you a fixed quote in writing. See our services for what we cover. The first conversation is free.
Contact us or call 028 9508 4138.
