Accounting Services for Lawyers with Specific Financial Obligations

Solicitors in Private Practice

As specialist accountants for solicitors, we manage the personal tax position of practicing solicitors including self-employed income, PAYE from employed positions, partner drawings, and the allowable professional expenses that generalist accountants routinely miss.

Law Firm Partners

Law firm partners carry distinct tax and financial obligations. We provide detailed partner accounting covering capital accounts, profit-sharing arrangements, personal tax on partnership income, pension contributions, and annual self-assessment filings prepared correctly and on time.

Sole Practitioner Solicitors

As a dedicated legal sector accountant for sole practitioners, we manage your full financial picture; annual accounts, self-assessment, VAT, payroll (if applicable), client account reconciliation, and SRA Accountant's Report preparation.

LLP Partners & LLP Accounts

Limited Liability Partnerships are the predominant structure for UK law firms. We prepare LLP accounts, advise on designated member obligations, manage profit allocations, and handle the personal tax returns of all LLP members with accuracy and within HMRC deadlines.

Solicitors Working Through a Limited Company

Growing numbers of solicitors structure their private income through a personal limited company. We advise on the appropriateness of this structure, manage company formation, book-keeping, payroll, dividends, annual accounts, and corporation tax, ensuring the structure delivers the efficiency it was established to achieve.

Law Firm Practices

As experienced accountants for law firms, we provide full practice-level accounting services including annual accounts preparation, partnership or corporate tax returns, payroll for all fee-earners and support staff, VAT compliance, management accounts, and cash flow oversight.

Barristers & Advocates

Self-employed barristers operate under a different tax and accounting framework from solicitors. We provide self-assessment, VAT advice (including the VAT position of chambers), and personal tax planning for barristers at all stages of their career.

In-House Legal Professionals

Employed solicitors and general counsel with additional income sources - from board directorships to consultancy income require careful personal tax management. We handle self-assessment and tax planning for in-house legal professionals managing mixed income streams.

Legal Consultants & Freelance Solicitors

Since the SRA introduced rules permitting freelance solicitor status in England and Wales, increasing numbers of experienced lawyers are operating independently. We provide the dedicated accounting support that freelance solicitors need to manage their self-employed income, VAT position, and ongoing compliance obligations.

Law Firm Accounts & Annual Reporting

Accurate, professionally prepared annual accounts are the foundation of sound financial management for any law firm. As specialist providers of law firm accounting services, we prepare annual accounts for sole practitioners, partnerships, LLPs, and limited company law firms, covering income and expenditure, balance sheet, profit allocation schedules, partner capital accounts, and all supporting schedules required for tax compliance.

Our accounts are prepared to the standard required for SRA compliance, tax filings, and bank reporting and we manage the process efficiently so that year-end does not become a burden on your practice management team.

Best for: Sole practitioners, partnership and LLP law firms, limited company solicitors, and legal practices of all sizes requiring professionally prepared annual accounts.

SRA Accountant's Report Preparation

The SRA Accountant's Report is a statutory obligation for most law firms holding client money. Under the current rules, it must be prepared by a qualified reporting accountant and submitted within six months of the firm's financial year-end. Under the forthcoming 2027 rule changes, it will be submitted directly to the SRA by the reporting accountant, making the choice of accountant even more consequential.

As experienced preparers of SRA Accountant's Reports, we review your client account reconciliations, identify any SRA Accounts Rules breaches (whether reportable or not), prepare the formal report and checklist, and ensure your COFA receives the information they need to maintain compliance throughout the year, not just at year-end.

Best for: All law firms holding client money, including those currently exempt who may be captured by the 2027 rule changes, and firms wishing to review the quality of their existing Accountant's Report preparation.

Law Firm Book-keeping Services

Well-maintained financial records are the operational foundation of a compliant and profitable law firm. Our law firm book-keeping services cover income recording across all fee streams, expenditure tracking and categorisation, client account and office account reconciliation, supplier payments, bank reconciliations, and the preparation of month-end management information.

We work across all major legal practice management and accounting platforms including Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, and FreeAgent and integrate our book-keeping with your practice management system to ensure your financial records reflect your live matter activity accurately throughout the year.

Best for: Sole practitioners and smaller law firms without a dedicated finance function, and larger practices seeking an external book-keeping partner to support or supplement their in-house team.

Personal Tax Returns for Solicitors & Partners

The personal tax position of a solicitor or law firm partner is rarely straightforward. Partnership drawings, capital account interest, employed income, pension contributions, rental income, investments, and the personal allowance trap for those earning above £100,000 all require careful co-ordination on a self-assessment return. As specialist accountants for solicitors, we prepare personal tax returns with a thorough review of every income source, apply all allowable deductions, and ensure your filing is accurate, compliant, and submitted well ahead of the January deadline.

Best for: Law firm partners, LLP members, salaried partners, sole practitioner solicitors, and any legal professional with income beyond straightforward PAYE employment.

Partnership & LLP Tax Compliance

Law firm partnerships and LLPs have tax obligations that extend beyond the personal returns of individual partners. The partnership tax return, profit allocation statements, capital account schedules, and the co-ordination between the firm's year-end accounts and each partner's individual filing all need to be managed in a sequence and to a standard that most generalist accountants cannot provide.

We manage the full cycle of partnership and LLP tax compliance from year-end accounts to partnership return, profit allocation verification, and each partner's personal self-assessment as an integrated, co-ordinated service that eliminates gaps and inconsistencies.

Best for: All partnership and LLP structured law firms, regardless of size, where individual partner returns need to align precisely with the firm's partnership accounts and tax return.

Law Firm Payroll Services

Managing payroll for a law firm involves fee-earner salaries, support staff pay, partner drawings (where structured as salary), pension auto-enrolment, benefit-in-kind reporting, and HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) submissions: all within a practice environment where accuracy and timing directly affect firm cashflow and HMRC compliance.

We provide complete payroll management for law firms of all sizes: running monthly payroll, managing PAYE and National Insurance calculations, handling auto-enrolment pension obligations, and managing P11D benefit reporting at year-end. All submissions are made directly to HMRC on your behalf, on time, every time.

Best for: Law firms of any size requiring reliable, accurate payroll management as a fully outsourced service, including those with complex partner and fee-earner pay structures.

VAT for Law Firms & Legal Professionals

VAT in the legal sector carries specific considerations that a general VAT adviser may not be equipped to handle. The partial exemption position of firms providing both taxable and VAT-exempt services, the treatment of disbursements billed to clients, the VAT position of international legal services, and the registration obligations of sole practitioners and barristers all require careful analysis.

We provide specialist accounting services for lawyers covering VAT registration, returns preparation, partial exemption calculations, and proactive VAT planning that ensuring your firm's VAT position is correct, defensible, and not costing you more than it should.

Best for: Law firms with mixed taxable and exempt supplies, sole practitioner solicitors approaching the VAT threshold, and firms with international client work that affects their VAT recovery position.

Tax Planning for Legal Professionals

Effective tax planning for partners and senior solicitors goes well beyond filing a return. As dedicated accountants for legal professionals with genuine expertise in the taxation of law firm income, we review your income structure, pension position, investment activity, and personal circumstances to identify where legitimate savings are available throughout the tax year.

This includes management of the £100,000 personal allowance threshold, pension contribution strategies, timing of profit distributions, capital gains management, and for those considering leaving employment to go sole or join a smaller practice; the tax implications of structural change.

Best for: Senior associates approaching partnership, law firm partners earning above £100,000, solicitors planning a career transition, and legal professionals who want a proactive annual tax review rather than a reactive year-end filing.