Preparing for your first meeting with an accountant can be a stressful experience. You may find yourself panicking about what documents to take with you, what documents to leave behind, and you may even be considering packing a suitcase full of every piece of paper you can find lying around. To make everything much easier for you, the Butterworth Barlow team has compiled a list of documents that you’ll need to pop in your bag ahead of your meeting…

Bank Statements

This one may sound like a given, but you should take statements for all your business accounts for the whole period. You might just have one main account, or you may have a deposit or reserve account which needs to be declared to your accountant. It’s also important to bring along any cheque or paying in books that you use.

Loan Statements

Your accountant needs to know the closing balance at your yearend date for any loans. It may be a faff to get these from the bank, but any interest suffered is a tax-deductible expense so it’s worth getting hold of.

Credit Card Statements

Whether you have a separate business credit card, or use your personal one to make business purchases, this should be made clear to your accountant by taking any necessary statements.

Financial Agreements

You should take details of any new financial agreements you’ve made, for example, you may have got a new hire purchase. Repayment Interest is another tax-deductible expense, and not declaring a new agreement could significantly increase your tax bill.

Payroll Records

You should take a copy of each month’s payroll so your accountant can reconcile the net payments your employees received.

Your Income

Again, this may seem obvious but you should declare any income you have received throughout the year, including any extra from self-employed work, or any sales such as a property or shares.

Invoices and Expenses Receipts

You should always keep a record of invoices and expenses as if you don’t, your tax bill could increase, and you should also keep track of any petty cash payments so your accountant can reconcile them.

Employment Income

If you have had any over the period, you should take your P60 or if it stopped during the year, be sure to take your P45.

P11D

If you have a P11D, it’s important to show your accountant otherwise your tax calculation will be incorrect. This could cause you a lot of trouble with HMRC in the future.

Pensions

If you have made some private pension payments during the year, bring along any corresponding paperwork so that the details of the payments made can be declared to your accountant.

Bank Interest Details

Details of any bank interest made throughout the year (not including ISAs) should be given to your accountant. Don’t forget to include any interest in your savings account as failing to declare this will come back to bite you!

Dividends

No matter how small they may be, you should take any details of dividends received throughout the year to your meeting.

Rental Income

Your accountant will need to see any property management expenses and any mortgage interest you may have.

For further advice call Butterworth Barlow on 0151 493 9700 or visit www.butterworthbarlow.co.uk