It depends on what has to go into the return. A return with one kind of income and tidy records costs less than one with a business, a rental property and a sale in the same year. Our own fees are fixed and published: £150 for one tax return, and £300 a year for a sole trader or a landlord, which includes the accounts behind the return. If you are self-employed, the cost of preparing and sending the return itself cannot be claimed as a business expense.
- £150for one tax return, prepared and filed
- £300a year for a sole trader or a landlord
- £100the penalty for a return one day late
- £0to file it yourself with HMRC online
What we charge for a tax return.
We can only speak for our own prices, so those are the ones given here. Each is a fixed fee, agreed in writing before any work starts. There is no hourly rate.
| Service | Fee | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Tax return only | £150 | One return prepared, explained and filed. For a side income, dividends, the Child Benefit charge or a one-off year. |
| Sole trader package | £300 a year | The return and your annual accounts, a CIS refund claimed if you work in construction, HMRC letters handled and every deadline tracked. |
| Landlord package | £300 a year | The return with the property pages, mortgage interest relief and repairs treated correctly, and the Making Tax Digital line checked each year. |
| A late or missing year | £150 a year | The year prepared and filed, and the penalties appealed where there is a reasonable excuse. |
| 60 day property return | £125 | The capital gains return due within 60 days of selling a home you let out. Reporting it again on the year’s return is included. |
Quick questions by phone or email are free on the two packages. Every price on the site is on the fees page, including the ones for limited companies.
What decides the price.
An accountant’s fee reflects the time a return takes and the risk of getting it wrong. It is not a percentage of what you earn. These are the things that change it:
- How many kinds of income there are. Each kind has its own pages on the return: employment, self-employment, property, capital gains, income from abroad.
- Whether accounts are needed. A sole trader’s return rests on a set of accounts for the business. Someone reporting dividends has nothing of the kind to prepare.
- The state of the records. A year of bank statements and a bag of receipts takes longer than a spreadsheet that has been kept up.
- Property. Each property adds income and costs to go through, and a sale adds a capital gains calculation with its own return and its own deadline.
- Years that are overdue. Each missing year is a return of its own, often with penalties to deal with.
- How close the deadline is. Our fees are the same all year, but records that arrive in the last week of January leave no time to ask about anything that is missing.
We have not quoted what other firms charge. There is no official figure for it, and a range taken from other people’s websites could not be checked in the way every other figure in these notes is. Ask any firm you are considering for its fee in writing.
What to ask before you agree a fee.
- Is it a fixed fee or an hourly rate? If hourly, ask for an estimate in writing and what happens if it is exceeded.
- What does it include? Ask whether accounts, letters from HMRC, a correction to the return and an explanation of the bill are inside the fee or charged on top.
- When will the return be filed? The return can go in from 6 April. One filed early tells you what you owe months before you have to pay it.
- Will I be told what to pay, and when? That means the January figure and the July one, with the payments on account explained.
- What do you need from me, and by when? A clear list at the start saves both sides time.
- How do I authorise you? You have to authorise an accountant before they can deal with HMRC for you. HMRC then writes to them about your return, although bills and refunds still come to you.
GOV.UK says that a paid tax agent has to meet HMRC’s standard for agents, and publishes guidance on what to look for when you choose one.
Can you claim the fee against tax?
| You are | Can be claimed | Cannot be claimed |
|---|---|---|
| Self-employed | The cost of hiring an accountant for business reasons only | The cost of preparing and submitting your self assessment tax return |
| A landlord | Accountants’ fees, which GOV.UK lists among the costs of the day-to-day running of a let property | Costs that are not part of running the let property |
For a sole trader this draws a line through the middle of most accountants’ bills. Keeping the books and preparing the accounts of the business is work done for the business. Filling in and sending your personal tax return is not, even though the business is the reason you have one.
Ask for the invoice to show the two parts. Where one fee covers the accounts and the return, an invoice that separates them lets you claim the part that is allowed and leave out the part that is not.
An employee who files a return only for dividends, savings interest or the Child Benefit charge has no business to set the fee against, so none of it is claimed.
Four people, priced.
Worked examples, at our fees
The fee follows the work in the return
Each of these people needs a return for the 2025 to 2026 tax year. What differs is what has to be prepared before it can be filed.
- Omar is employed and pays the Child Benefit charge
- Tax return only£150
- Grace is a self-employed decorator
- Sole trader package: accounts and return£300
- Ben lets two flats, and sold one of them in June
- Landlord package£300
- 60 day property return for the sale£125
- For the year£425
- Ria is a sole trader who has not filed for two years
- Two missing years at £150£300
- Sole trader package for this year£300
- To be brought up to date£600
For comparison, HMRC charges £100 for a return that is one day late and, after three months, £10 a day for up to 90 days. A return six months late has cost at least £1,300 in penalties before any tax is counted. Deadlines and penalties has the full table.
Doing it yourself.
Nobody is required to use an accountant. You can file your own return through HMRC’s online service without charge. It carries help text throughout, saves your entries so that you can come back to them, and shows the calculation before you submit.
When doing it yourself is reasonable
- you have one kind of extra income, and the figures are on a statement someone else has prepared
- your records are complete and you are comfortable with the online form
- nothing unusual happened in the year
When an accountant earns the fee
- you run a business, and need accounts and a view on which costs are allowed
- you let property, where mortgage interest, repairs and improvements are each treated differently
- you sold a property or shares
- you are late, or behind by a year or more
- your time is worth more to you than the fee
If you are not sure which side you fall on, ask. We will tell you when a return is one you could comfortably send yourself.
Questions, answered.
It depends on what is in the return: how many kinds of income, whether business accounts are needed, and the state of the records. Our fees are fixed and published. One tax return is £150. A sole trader or landlord package is £300 a year and includes the accounts or property pages, HMRC letters and deadline tracking. A late or missing year is £150.
Partly, if you are self-employed. GOV.UK allows the cost of hiring an accountant for business reasons, such as preparing the accounts of the business, but not the cost of preparing and submitting your self assessment tax return. Landlords can claim accountants’ fees as a cost of running the let property.
No. You can file your own return online with HMRC at no cost, and for a simple return that is a reasonable choice. An accountant is worth the fee where there is a business, a rental property, a sale or a year that is overdue, because those are the returns where mistakes and missed claims cost more than the fee.
No. Our fees are the same all year. What changes in January is the time available: records that arrive in the last week leave little room to ask about anything that is missing, and the return and the tax are both due by the 31st.
Yes. You authorise the new accountant to deal with HMRC for you, and they take it from there. Our own clients can leave with a month’s notice.
Keep reading.
Every figure in this note was checked against GOV.UK on 30 September 2026 and is for the 2026 to 2027 tax year unless it says otherwise. Desk Notes are general guidance for the UK, not advice on your own situation.
The number behind this noteSee what your return is likely to show before you decide who files it.
Open the tax estimateMore Desk Notes
Rather we did it for you?
One fee, agreed in writing before we start.
Tell us what income you have and we will tell you which fee applies, in writing, within a working day. One return is £150. A sole trader or landlord package is £300 a year. There is no hourly rate, and a quick question is free.