Contractors

Accounting for contractors and their limited companies — compliance handled, profit extraction optimised, and IR35 navigated with documentation rather than hope.

Speak to a Specialist Call 020 8567 3451

Contracting through a limited company multiplies your admin precisely when your time is billable: company accounts, corporation tax, VAT, payroll for yourself, self assessment on top — and over it all, IR35, where status decisions by you or your clients change your take-home by thousands and the rules reward paperwork done before HMRC asks, not after.

Acumon runs the whole stack for a fixed monthly fee: the company kept compliant, salary and dividends structured properly and revisited as rules move, contract status supported with reasoned documentation, and a UK-based accountant who answers when an agency, client or HMRC letter needs a same-week response.

The Company, Run for You

Everything your limited company owes the state, handled: statutory accounts and corporation tax, VAT returns — with the flat rate scheme assessed honestly against your costs rather than defaulted — payroll and RTI for your salary, dividend paperwork done properly, and your self assessment reconciled to it all. Cloud bookkeeping keeps it current; a named accountant keeps it yours.

IR35, With Evidence

Where clients determine your status, we help you scrutinise and challenge determinations that get it wrong; where the decision is yours, we review contracts and working practices against the case law that actually decides status — substitution, control, mutuality — and document the position. Inside-IR35 engagements are run correctly too: the arithmetic of umbrella versus deemed payments through your company, and keeping the company worthwhile alongside mixed engagements.

Take-Home, Legitimately Maximised

Contractor take-home is a system with several dials: salary set against NI thresholds, dividends timed across tax years and spouses where shareholdings are properly arranged, pension contributions that convert corporation tax into retirement savings, and VAT scheme choice. We run the numbers annually — the optimal settings move with every Budget — and we do it without the aggressive schemes that litter this market; contractors are precisely the population loan-charge history was written about.

Between and Beyond Contracts

Contracting life has phases the accounting should follow: war-chest years where retained profits earn properly inside the company, quiet stretches where cash planning matters, and eventually an exit — winding up with Business Asset Disposal Relief where conditions are met, or the company becoming the vehicle for the next venture. We plan across the whole arc, not just the current gig.

What You Get With Acumon

Company accounts, corporation tax, VAT, payroll and self assessment — one fee
IR35 contract and working-practice reviews with reasoned documentation
Client status determinations scrutinised and challenged when wrong
Annual salary, dividend and pension optimisation as rules move
Flat rate VAT assessed honestly against your actual costs
Umbrella vs limited arithmetic done straight when engagements are inside
Retained profit and war-chest planning between contracts
Wind-up and Business Asset Disposal Relief when contracting ends

Why Acumon for Contractors?

All 90 of the firm's professionals are based in the UK
Dedicated employment tax and IR35 specialists, several ex-HMRC
CIPP-qualified payroll team handling contractor payrolls among 250+ companies
Fixed monthly fees agreed in advance

Get a Fixed-Fee Quote

Tell us what you need and we'll come back within one business day with a clear scope and a fixed price — no hourly-rate surprises. Call 020 8567 3451 or use the form and we'll be in touch.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Limited company or umbrella — which should I use?

It hinges on your engagements' IR35 status and your rate. Mostly outside IR35: a limited company usually wins on take-home and flexibility, and the admin is what you hire us for. Mostly inside: an umbrella often nets similar money with less structure, and running a company adds cost for little gain — though mixed portfolios and war-chest ambitions can still justify one. We run your actual numbers both ways and tell you, including when the answer is the one that pays us less.

My client says my contract is inside IR35. Is that final?

No — determinations must be made with reasonable care and come with a status disagreement process. We review whether the determination reflects your genuine working practices; blanket assessments and misapplied CEST results are still common and successfully challenged. Where the determination is honestly right, we pivot to making the inside engagement work: correct deemed payment handling and a clear view of what the change does to your net income.

What take-home should I expect from my day rate?

As a rough shape for an outside-IR35 contractor on efficient salary-dividend extraction: net retention around 70-75% of billings is typical at mid rates, moving with your VAT scheme, pension contributions and other income — inside IR35 it lands materially lower, closer to permanent-employment economics. Beware anyone advertising retention percentages in the high eighties; that arithmetic only works through schemes with a long record of ending in HMRC settlements. We give you the real number for your rate, honestly.

I'm winding down contracting. What happens to the company?

Money left in the company on exit can often come out at capital rates: a members' voluntary liquidation with Business Asset Disposal Relief can tax retained profits at 14% (18% from April 2026) up to the lifetime limit, against dividend rates that reach nearly 40%. Conditions apply — including anti-avoidance rules if you restart similar activity within two years — and sequencing matters, so involve us before the last invoice, not after. If a permanent role beckons mid-year, we also handle the messy transition tax year.

Get in Touch

Ready to Sort Your Contractors?

Tell us what you need. Within one business day, a qualified accountant will be in touch to talk it through and give you a clear, fixed-fee quote — no obligation.

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Visit us1-2 Craven Road, Ealing, London, W5 2UA

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