Sidekick - Limited Company and Self-Employed Accountants

IR35 is the thing that determines how much of your contractor income you actually get to keep.

If your engagement is deemed inside IR35, your income from that contract is taxed like employment income. That means income tax and National Insurance on the full amount, with none of the tax efficiency that comes from operating through a limited company. The difference in take-home pay can be significant.

If you are outside IR35, you pay yourself through salary and dividends in the usual way, and the tax efficiency of the limited company structure applies in full.

Since April 2021, medium and large private sector clients are responsible for determining your IR35 status. They communicate this through a Status Determination Statement. If they get it wrong, you have the right to challenge it, but you need a well-documented case based on actual working practices, rather than just the wording of the contract.

The key factors are the same as they always have been. How much control does the client have over how you work? Can you send a substitute? Is there an obligation to offer and accept work?

Your contracts and your day-to-day working arrangements need to be consistent with each other. A contract that says one thing and a working relationship that looks like another is where people get caught.

At Sidekick, we support limited company contractors with IR35 guidance as part of our service. If you are not sure of your status on a current or upcoming engagement, get in touch.

It means when you contact Sidekick, you are not speaking to whoever picks up the phone.

You have one person. Someone who knows your business, your setup, your history, your goals. Someone who can answer your question without you having to explain your situation from scratch every single time.

That sounds like it should be standard. In most accountancy firms, it is not.

Your client manager keeps your books up to date, handles your submissions, reviews your tax position throughout the year, and flags anything you need to know about before it becomes a problem. They are your point of contact for everything.

When you message them, you hear back within 30 minutes.

This is what we mean when we say your business partner, not just your accountant. One person, fully across your finances, available when you need them.

Get in touch, and we will introduce you to yours.

That is what one of our clients said when they first came to us.

They were invoicing. Tracking expenses. Doing the basics, but beyond that, they had no idea whether their business was actually structured efficiently, whether they were extracting money in the right way, or whether they were paying more tax than they needed to.

Most self-employed people are in exactly that position. Keeping their head above water but not really in control of the financial side. Getting by rather than getting ahead.

Here is what changes when you work with Sidekick.

We look at your whole picture. Income, expenses, structure, tax position. We make sure you are claiming everything you are entitled to. We make sure your records are clean and current. We handle your self-assessment return and make sure it is optimised, not just filed.

And we check in throughout the year, not just in January.

The goal is simple. You keep more of the money you earn and spend less time thinking about it.

From £35 per month. Get in touch.

This is what one of our clients told us after moving to Sidekick's umbrella service.

"I go to work and do my job. My money is paid into my account on the same date each month, with tax and National Insurance taken care of. I don't even think about it anymore. It just works."

If you are a contractor or freelancer who is tired of chasing invoices, managing your own tax, worrying about whether you have put enough aside, or just wanting the simplicity of knowing exactly when you are getting paid and how much, umbrella is worth understanding.

Through Sidekick's umbrella service, you become an employee of Sidekick. We manage everything. Your pay, your tax, your National Insurance. You submit your timesheets; we handle the rest.

Same date every month.

Get in touch, and we will explain how it works for your situation.

Most people assume incorporating a limited company is complicated and expensive. It does not have to be either.

When you sign up for Sidekick's limited company service, we form your company with Companies House for you, at no extra cost, within 24 hours. You tell us the company name you want; we check it is available, and we handle the whole incorporation process.

That means your company is registered, your registered office is set up, and you are ready to trade, all without spending hours on the Companies House website trying to figure out what you are doing.

From there, your dedicated client manager takes over. Your books are set up on FreeAgent, your payroll is registered if you need it, your VAT registration is handled if you are in scope, and your whole financial setup is put in place properly from day one.

Most people who come to us having incorporated themselves tell us they wish they had done it this way from the start. Getting the foundation right means everything that follows is simpler.

If you are thinking about going limited, get in touch today. We will come back to you within 30 minutes.

There is an option most people do not know about.

If you file your online self-assessment return by 30 December 2026 and you owe less than £3,000 in tax for 2025/26, HMRC can collect it through your PAYE tax code instead of asking for it as a lump sum in January.

That means the amount is spread across your monthly pay throughout 2027/28. It comes out of your payslip automatically. No January payment. No cash flow crunch.

To qualify, you need to be employed as well as self-employed, so that you have a PAYE income for HMRC to adjust your code against. The return has to be filed online by 30 December, not 31 January. File after that date and the option is gone.

It is not right for everyone. If your tax bill is already being reduced by payments on account, or your PAYE income is low, the numbers need checking first.

But if this sounds like it could work for you, the deadline to act is 30 December 2026.

Get in touch, and we will tell you whether it makes sense for your situation.

Most people think of the 31 January 2027 deadline as just the self-assessment filing date. It is actually three things at once.

Your online tax return for 2025/26 is filed and submitted.

Your balancing payment for 2025/26, which is any tax you owe above what you have already paid through payments on account.

Your first payment on account for 2026/27, which is 50% of your 2025/26 tax bill paid in advance towards next year.

If your tax bill for 2025/26 comes to £6,000, you are not paying £6,000 in January. You are paying £6,000 plus £3,000 on account. £9,000 in total, all due on the same date.

The second payment on account for 2026/27 is then due 31 July 2027.

Knowing this now means you can put money aside as you go rather than finding out in January when it is too late to do anything about it.

Get in touch and we will tell you exactly what to expect.

Quarter two of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax covers 6 July to 5 October 2026. The submission deadline is 7 November 2026.

If you are in scope, meaning your combined gross income from self-employment and property is above £50,000, this applies to you now.

What you need to submit is a summary of your income and expenses for the quarter through HMRC-recognised software. It does not need to be your final figures. It is a quarterly update, not a final set of accounts. But your records do need to be digital and up to date.

If quarter one went in late or did not go in at all, HMRC has confirmed a soft landing for 2026/27, meaning no penalty points this year. That ends when the new tax year starts in April 2027. From that point, the points system kicks in fully.

Quarter three covers 6 October to 5 January 2027 with a deadline of 7 February 2027. Quarter four covers 6 January to 5 April 2027 with a deadline of 7 May 2027.

Getting into a rhythm now makes the rest of the year significantly easier.

Get in touch if you are not set up yet.

If you went self-employed any time in the 2025/26 tax year, the deadline to register with HMRC is 5 October 2026.

Miss it, and you are looking at a failure to notify penalty on top of whatever else you owe. It is one of those things that feels like it can wait and then suddenly it cannot.

Registering is straightforward. You do it online through the HMRC website, and you will receive a Unique Taxpayer Reference in the post within about 10 days. You need that reference to file your return.

Once you are registered, your first self-assessment return for the 2025/26 tax year is due 31 January 2027 online. That is when any tax you owe is also due, along with your first payment on account towards 2026/27 if your bill is over £1,000.

If you started out this year and you are not sure what you need to do or when, that is exactly what we are here for.

Get in touch, and we will walk you through it.