Ways to get a property company’s accounts and tax return done
There is no single right answer. This is a fair account of what each way is for and where it stops. It states no prices, because they vary and we only quote figures we can source.
| Option | Best for | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| An accountant | Complicated situations: trading as well as letting, groups, property sales, unusual transactions, or any time you want someone else to take responsibility for the work and the advice. | You still have to get them your records, and the directors remain responsible for the accounts. The cost and the pace are set by the accountant. |
| General bookkeeping software | Businesses of every kind, and people who already know which accounts and categories they need. | It is not built around a lettings-only company, so you choose the categories, and the property-specific year-end work (mortgage interest against capital, depreciation of the building, rent owed or paid in advance) is yours to know and set up. What it produces for filing depends on the product. |
| Doing it yourself, in a spreadsheet | A company with very few transactions and a director who knows the rules. | Nothing checks the work: whether the accounts balance, whether the tax agrees with the accounts, or whether the format Companies House and HMRC need has been met. |
| SPV Accounts | A limited company that only lets residential property, whose directors want to prepare the accounts from the bank statements themselves. | It is for that one kind of company. It flags years with transactions outside what it handles for an accountant, and it is not personal advice. |
What the law requires whichever you choose
GOV.UK says companies do not have to use a professional accountant to prepare accounts. It also says the directors of every company must prepare accounts for each financial year, that the board must approve them, and that a director must sign the balance sheet. Whichever way you choose, the directors are the ones responsible. Read the full answer.
What SPV Accounts does
SPV Accounts prepares micro-entity accounts and a corporation tax return for UK private limited companies whose only business is letting residential property, from the company’s bank statements.
- You upload bank statements as CSV files and confirm what each line was for.
- It works out mortgage interest, depreciation of the building and the year-end items, and prepares micro-entity accounts and a Company Tax Return from the same figures.
- Directors approve online with an electronic signature.
- The accounts and the tax return are built to be sent to Companies House and HMRC directly through their official filing services. Each of them approves software before it can file live, and that approval is in progress: this page will say the day it is done.
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