Finding an accountant

bluezebra · Post by **bluezebra** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:55 am

Moi

I need to find an English speaking accountant to help me set up an Oy or Limited company and handle the accounts too. Preferably with experience of working with small IT freelance companies.

**Sponsor:**

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:24 am

If you are a small freelancer then a toiminimi is all you need rather than a limited company. You can set this up yourself - it is very easy. The bookkeeping is not too difficult either and most very small business are on yearly VAT returns nowadays thanks to the new Tax Account system. Setting up an Oy is quite easy too. You can find most of the info on this forum (using the search engine) also on http://www.prh.fi and on Entreprise Finland's website. There are **Free** courses organised for freelancers and entrepreneurs (links also on this forum).

In Finland bookkeepers do bookkeeping - and that's about all. The TE-Keskus will help you to set up your company. A bookkeeper can be used for the annual accounts (there have been several recommendations in previous threads).

Are you in Helsinki???????

bluezebra · Post by **bluezebra** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:37 am

Hi

Thanks for your response.

I'm sure I need a limited liability in IT programming so that I if anything goes wrong only the company is responsible financially and not me. I currently have a UK Ltd company which I can no longer trade under since I moved here. Yes I'm in Helsinki.

The thing is I prefer to focus on my actual job rather than accounting, in the UK I had an accountant who managed all this for me so I was hoping to find a similar solution. I could learn how to do it myself but I don't really want to. Is that an option here?

I saw a previous post with an official list of accountants but was hoping for a personal recommendation of someone happy to deal in English an IT freelancer before cold calling them.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:08 am

First of all, I am surprised you cannot continue to use your UK limited company. Which laws specifically prevent this? As you pointed out yourself, you (the person) and your UK Ltd. are two separate entities for tax purposes so... maybe you can continue to bill your work through the UK company. It might be worth checking that out. ( You certainly do not have to be resident in Finland to start up an Oy here.)

There have been some personal recommendations on here but it is difficult finding stuff with the rubbish search engine. I'm sure someone will come along and answer your thread in a few days. But the recommendations you get will be for bookkeeping, not accounting services as such. In the past there have been many threads on here where posters have complained that their "bookkeepers" are not giving them tax advice etc etc. It seems that up here the bookkeepers JUST do the double-entry for you. They won't give recommendations, advice etc. But there are organisations out there (like the TE Keskus, Enterprise Finland etc) who specifically help foreigners setting up their own businesses. I would definitely recommend attending the courses they offer - in fact I would say it is essential, you can't rely on a bookkeeper to tell you what you can and cannot claim against your tax. If you are expecting the bookkeeper to raise invoices for you or do payroll accounting then it is going to work out quite expensive. If it is just VAT and annual accounts then it is reasonable (but it depends on the number of transactions).

bluezebra · Post by **bluezebra** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:31 am

Hi

Thanks again for you sound advice.
I could trade under my UK company but I understand the laws are complex and would involve me submitting two different annual accounts to both countries, so would need an accountant who understands both systems. I have spoken to a couple of people at Vero the tax office about this. Obviously I would prefer this option but the only advice I've had appears to point me to set up a Finnish company for simplicity. I think you are right in that I will have to go on some of the courses to learn more, although I only a 1 person company and so am looking for basic VAT, income tax and annual reports being done for me. I raise and chase invoices myself.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 12:44 pm

A bookkeeper probably won't do income tax. It is quite unusual here for people not to do their own...

Did you find Richard Berman's recommendation during your searches:

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=50095

You could PM him for an update...

MC Deli · Post by **MC Deli** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:59 pm

penelope wrote:most very small business are on yearly VAT returns nowadays thanks to the new Tax Account system.

I wish it was so but this isn't always true. After a long day being shuttled between Vero offices I was told that the form for small businesses to make a yearly VAT return is for a calendar year. So, if you start your business in February (like I did) you have to fill a monthly VAT return for every month before you can apply for the yearly return for 2012. This seems pretty daft to me... is there something I am missing?

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 10:42 pm

My year-end is June 30, and I filed monthly VAT returns until the end of 2010 and now it's annual. But we still have to do the annual accounts at the end of June.

IMO it is not such a bad thing to do it all monthly.

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