BUZZ ACCOUNTINGFixed fees, agreed in writing before we start
No hourly billing, no clock running while you type a WhatsApp message. Every job is quoted before it starts, and the quote is the bill.
What a fixed fee means here
Every job on this page is quoted in writing before any work starts, and that quote is the invoice. There is no hourly rate underneath it, no time being written up in the background, and no bill at the end that is bigger than the number you agreed. If the work turns out to be larger than the picture you gave us — a second property nobody mentioned, four years of unfiled returns rather than one — we come back with a revised quote and you decide before we carry on.
That matters more when you live abroad than it does for a UK client. You cannot drop into the office to ask what is happening, the time difference makes a quick call awkward, and the usual accountancy habit of billing for the phone call trains you not to ring. Fixed fees remove the meter, which is the only way a WhatsApp thread across eight time zones actually works.
Where the prices come from
They are built from how long each job genuinely takes a UK practice that files these returns every week. A non-resident Self Assessment is not a standard return with an extra box: it carries the SA109 residence pages, which HMRC's own free filing service cannot submit at all, so it has to go through commercial software. A 60-day CGT return needs a full computation and a rebasing decision before anything can be filed. The fee reflects that, and it does not move because you happen to be in Dubai rather than Doncaster.
Every published price
Personal returns£299 / year
The full return including the residence pages, filed by 31 January.
£349 / year
First property and the NRL1 included; £75 each additional property; second owner £150.
£249 one-off
Day budget, split year, P85, NRL and NI actions — credited against your first year with us.
£249 one-off
Start of residence, FIG regime plan, registration — credited the same way.
£449 per disposal
Computation, best rebasing option, the return and the payment set up.
2% of turnover / year
Accounts, CT, VAT, payroll, company secretarial — the standard Buzz company package.
£149 one-off
Record, class, CF83 and back-years advice — including an honest no.
What is and is not in the fee
The line most people care about is where a fixed fee stops. Here is the honest boundary.
In every fixed fee
- The return itself, prepared, checked by a second person and filed
- The residence pages (SA109) that HMRC's own website cannot submit
- Registration forms that go with the job — NRL1, CF83, SA1, P85
- Your deadlines diarised, and reminders before them rather than after
- Questions between jobs, on WhatsApp or email, without a clock running
- Talking to your local accountant or solicitor where you have one
- Chasing HMRC for a refund once a claim has gone in
Not included, and never hidden
- Tax you owe — the fee is for the work, never the liability
- Years before the one quoted; back years are priced separately and cheaply
- A full HMRC enquiry, which is quoted when and if one ever arrives
- Advice in your country of residence — we do the UK half and coordinate
- Regulated financial advice: we are accountants, not financial advisers
- Legal work such as conveyancing, wills or trust drafting
Three worked examples
Composite examples using the published fees above, so you can see what a whole year actually costs rather than a single line item. They are illustrations of the arithmetic, not case studies of real clients.
A couple in Dubai who kept the family house
They moved in 2024, let the house in Leeds, and the agent has been deducting basic-rate tax from the rent ever since. Both are named on the title, so both need a return.
Year one: landlord return for the first owner £349, second owner £150 — £499, with both NRL1 applications included so the deductions stop. Each following year is the same £499 unless something changes.
Against that: with the personal allowance still available to them as British citizens, a modestly profitable let often produces a refund of the tax the agent already handed over. That refund is frequently larger than the fee in year one, because it covers deductions made before anyone got the NRL1 in.
A contractor in Singapore selling the old flat
He left in 2019, has no UK income at all, and completes on the sale of his old flat in September. There is a gain on paper but very little after rebasing to April 2015 value.
The 60-day CGT return: £449, including the computation and the comparison of the three permitted rebasing methods. The return is still legally required even though the tax due comes out at nil — and the penalty for missing the 60-day window starts at £100 and climbs from there, regardless of whether any tax was owed.
He needs nothing else that year. There is no annual return, because there is no other UK income.
A family arriving in the UK from Hong Kong
They arrive in the middle of a tax year with foreign income, foreign investments and a property back in Hong Kong they intend to keep.
Arrival review £249 to fix the start-of-residence date, plan the four-year FIG claim and register for Self Assessment, then £299 for the first return — and the £249 is credited against it, so the first year is £299 in total. From year two it is the standard return fee.
The four-year window is worth far more than the fee if it is claimed properly and far less than nothing if it is claimed badly, which is the entire argument for doing the review first.
How the money side works
Fees are quoted and charged in pounds sterling. Where a review fee is described as "credited", it means exactly that: the £249 you pay for a leaving or arriving review comes off your first year's return fee if you go on to become a client, so the review is effectively free to anyone who stays.
Two or more services together are quoted as a bundle rather than added up at list price — say what you have and the quote covers all of it in one number. Back years are the common case here: if you have not filed for three years, that is quoted as one piece of work, not three full-price returns.
On VAT: most personal tax work for someone who is not resident in the UK falls outside the scope of UK VAT, so the quoted fee is usually the whole cost. Work for a UK limited company is standard-rated in the normal way. Your quote states which applies to you rather than leaving you to guess.
Pricing questions
Is VAT added?
Most personal work for non-UK residents is outside the scope of UK VAT, so usually no — confirmed in writing on your quote. Company packages for UK companies carry VAT as normal.
Do you bill hourly for questions?
No. WhatsApp questions between jobs are part of having an accountant. If something grows into real work, you get a quote first.
What does a typical landlord couple actually pay?
Two returns plus the NRL1s in year one: £349 + £150 = £499, then the same each year. If there is a refund of withheld tax to claim, it usually exceeds that several times over.
Can I bundle?
Yes — the commonest bundle is landlord returns + the NI review (£498 first year) or a departure review credited against year one. Say what you have; the quote covers all of it.
What if I have not filed for several years?
Back years are quoted as one piece of work rather than at full price per year, and they are usually cheaper per return than the current one because the same information covers them all. Coming forward voluntarily also carries much lower penalties than being found, so this is worth raising early rather than hiding.
Does the price change because I live somewhere expensive?
No. The fee reflects the work, not your postcode. A landlord return costs the same from Dubai as it does from Dublin.
What happens if the job turns out bigger than the quote?
You get a revised quote and you decide before we go any further. We do not do the thing where extra work appears silently on the invoice.
Can I pay in dollars or dirhams?
Fees are quoted and charged in pounds sterling. Whatever your bank charges to send sterling is between you and them, so if that matters, ask us for the total before you set the payment up.
Is the first conversation really free?
Yes, including the answer to whether you need to file at all. If the honest answer is that you do not need us, that is what you will get told.
Do you take on people mid-mess?
Regularly. A missed 60-day deadline, an HMRC letter nobody answered, four years of nothing — that is a large part of the work. It is priced as a job, and the first step is always finding out exactly what is outstanding.