E-commerce Accounting Pricing

At Elver E-commerce Accountants we are aware that E-commerce businesses face all the same issues as any other business – and more! Having an online business brings with it efficiencies that will help to save you time and money. However, it also brings new challenges that traditional bricks and mortar businesses don’t face. For example, marketing an online business can be more time-consuming so time saved in other areas is likely to be spent on marketing. With no physical presence, your online store will be reliant upon an effective e-commerce marketing strategy to reach its customers. Your time will be much better spent on these activities rather than worrying about accounting and tax.

With a much larger geographical reach, you will potentially need to deal with the VAT implications of cross-border transactions and therefore potentially VAT registrations in other countries.

Different e-commerce platforms integrate with accounting systems in different ways and so it’s important to get the integration between your e-commerce platform and accounting software right from the start. If you are a multi-sales channel business (e.g. Amazon, E-bay, own website, Etsy) the accounting can become more complex. However, there is software available that can help to manage the integration between these different sales channels.

Whether you are a start-up or a more established e-commerce business, we can help with many of the issues that you face.

Our cloud accountancy services are tailored to meet the needs of your e-commerce business and will include everything you need to take your business to the next level. Our pricing is built into our proposal system GoProposal, which means that all our proposals and quotations and personalised to each individual e-commerce business. You can book a Zoom call to get a proposal tailored to you here.

Below are some example packages to give an indication of our pricing and the different services that we offer.

Example limited company A – Shopify store (£1m annual turnover)

For example, limited company A is selling on their Shopify store in the UK only, they have an annual turnover of £1,000,000 per year. They want to be as hands-off as possible, so we’re doing the bookkeeping for them as well as all the compliance services that they require which are statutory accounts, corporation tax returns, VAT returns, confirmation statements, payroll for their 5 employees and Self Assessment tax returns for the two owners. They also don’t want the hassle of handling their accounting software applications separately, so we’ve bundled Xero, Dext Prepare, and A2X for Shopify into their package. Their store is using the standard Shopify Payments payment gateway (500 orders per month), but also Paypal (250 orders per month) and Klarna (100 orders per month). They’re receiving around 20 purchase invoices a month from the different suppliers that they work with and they’re all being paid using company bank or credit cards. For now, their main focus is to keep compliant and just want their bookkeeping updated once a quarter so that they can file their VAT returns on time. For everything they need, their total monthly fees will be £642 + VAT per month. This is made up of:

Compliance services

• Annual accounts and corporation tax return – £180+VAT/month
• Quarterly VAT returns – £20+VAT/month
• Payroll – £23+VAT/month
• Confirmation statement – £3+VAT/month
• Personal tax return – £24+VAT/month

Compliance services total: £250+VAT/month

The above package also includes email, Zoom and telephone support; dividend documentation software and our tax investigation service at no additional charge.

Bookkeeping services

• Revenue reconciliation for 1 Shopify store – £75+VAT/month
• Processing of purchase invoices – £115+VAT/month
• Bank reconciliation – £120+VAT/month

Bookkeeping services total: £310+VAT/month

The revenue reconciliation, for example, limited company A is more complicated than a typical Shopify store as they have additional non-standard payment gateways. This makes revenue reconciliation more time-consuming as payment gateway fee data isn’t readily available in Shopify and there will be timing differences between Shopify data and payouts received.

Software

• Xero – £24/month
• Dext Prepare – £10+VAT/month
• A2X Shopify – £48+VAT/ month

Software Total: £82+VAT/month

The above includes Xero Standard, unlimited Dext Prepare and an A2X for Shopify Professional Plan covering up to 2,000 orders per month. This software would cost £107+VAT/month if purchased directly from the software providers. We are however able to pass on our partner discount to you.

Example limited company B – Amazon start-up (£75k annual turnover)

For example, limited company B has just started up and is selling on Amazon in the UK only, they have an annual turnover of £75,000 per year. They’ve got some time to spare and so are happy to do the bookkeeping themselves. They still need us to help with their compliance and we’re providing them with statutory accounts, corporation tax returns, confirmation statements and payroll for the 2 directors. They’re not taking any dividends from the business just yet so don’t need Self Assessment tax returns. However, they don’t want the hassle of handling their accounting software applications separately, so we’ve bundled Xero, Dext Prepare and A2X for Amazon into their package. For everything they need, their total monthly fees will be £150 + VAT per month. This is made up of:

Compliance services

• Annual accounts and corporation tax return – £80+VAT/month
• Payroll – £19+VAT/month
• Confirmation statement – £3+VAT/month

Compliance services total: £102+VAT/month

The above package also includes email, Zoom and telephone support; dividend documentation software and our tax investigation service at no additional charge.

Software

• Xero – £24/month
• Dext Prepare – £10+VAT/month
• A2X Shopify – £13+VAT/ month

Software total: £47+VAT/month

The above includes Xero Standard, unlimited Dext Prepare and an A2X for Shopify Professional Plan covering up to 2,000 orders per month. This software would cost £107+VAT/month if purchased directly from the software providers. We are however able to pass on our partner discount to you.

Example limited company C – Multi-channel international seller (£5m annual turnover)

For example, limited company C is an established business selling on Amazon (UK, EU, and US), Shopify (two brands, both selling internationally), and Etsy (UK only), which have an annual turnover of £5,000,000 per year. They want to be as hands-off as possible, so we’re doing the bookkeeping for them as well as all the compliance services that they require which are statutory accounts, corporation tax returns, VAT returns, confirmation statements, payroll for their 10 employees and Self Assessment tax returns for the two owners. They also don’t want the hassle of handling their accounting software applications separately, so we’ve bundled Xero, Dext Prepare and A2X for Amazon, Shopify and Etsy into their package. They find paying their employees a pain so we’ve set up a Module to integrate with our payroll software Brightpay. This enables them to make one single payment to pay all of their employees and their PAYE to HMRC. Their Shopify stores both have similar order volumes and are accepting multi-currency payments. They’re using the standard Shopify Payments payment gateway (1,000 orders per month), but also Paypal (500 orders per month) and Klarna (100 orders per month). They’re receiving around 80 purchase invoices a month from the different suppliers that they work with and they’re all being paid using company bank or credit cards. They’re keen to scale the business over the next 3 years and want to ensure that they have a solid exit strategy in place to ensure that they can achieve their objectives for the business. They, therefore, need monthly management reports, forecasting and monthly meetings to review performance and set future objectives. For everything they need, their total monthly fees will be £2,096 + VAT per month. This is made up of:

Compliance services

• Annual accounts and corporation tax return – £400+VAT/month
• Quarterly VAT returns – £20+VAT/month
• Payroll – £51+VAT/month
• Payroll payment processing – £10+VAT/month
• Confirmation statement – £3+VAT/month
• Personal tax return – £24+VAT/month

Compliance services total: £508+VAT/month

The above package also includes email, Zoom and telephone support; dividend documentation software and our tax investigation service at no additional charge.

Bookkeeping services

• Revenue reconciliation for 2 Shopify stores – £240+VAT/month
• Revenue reconciliation for Amazon – £30+VAT/month
• Revenue reconciliation for Etsy – £30+VAT/month
• Processing of purchase invoices – £245+VAT/month
• Bank reconciliation – £284+VAT/month

Bookkeeping services total: £829+VAT/month

The revenue reconciliation for Example limited company C is more complicated than a typical Shopify store as they have additional non-standard payment gateways. This makes revenue reconciliation more time-consuming as payment gateway fee data isn’t readily available in Shopify and there will be timing differences between Shopify data and payouts received. By contrast, our pricing for Amazon and Etsy reflects the efficiency of using A2X to collect all sales and fee data and consolidate it at a payout level.

Advisory services

• Monthly management accounts – £245+VAT/month
• 3-way financial forecasts – £275+VAT/month

Advisory services total: £520+VAT/month

Software

• Xero – £24/month
• Dext Prepare – £10+VAT/month
• A2X Amazon/Etsy/Shopify – £205+VAT/ month

Software total: £239+VAT/month

The above includes Xero Premium, unlimited Dext Prepare, 2 A2X for Shopify Professional Plans (2,000 orders each), 2 A2X for Amazon Standard Plans (5,000 orders each) and an A2X for Etsy Mini Plan (200 orders per month). This software would cost £300+VAT/month if purchased directly from the software providers. We are however able to pass on our partner discount to you.

Example limited company D – Multi-channel international seller (£10m annual turnover)

Example limited company D is an established business selling on Amazon (UK, EU, and US & Australia), Shopify (four stores, both selling internationally), eBay (UK only) and Etsy (UK only), they’re also selling on another niche marketplaces specific to their sector. They have an annual turnover of £10,000,000 per year. They want to be as hands-off as possible, so we’re doing the bookkeeping for them as well as all the compliance services that they require which are statutory accounts, corporation tax returns, VAT returns, confirmation statements, payroll for their 25 employees and Self Assessment tax returns for the three owners. They also don’t want the hassle of handling their accounting software applications separately, so we’ve bundled Xero, Dext Prepare and A2X for Amazon, Shopify, eBay and Etsy into their package. They find paying their employees a pain so we’ve set up a Module to integrate with our payroll software Brightpay. This enables them to make one single payment to pay all of their employees and their PAYE to HMRC. Their Shopify stores all have similar order volumes and are accepting multi-currency payments. They’re using the standard Shopify Payments payment gateway (1,000 orders per month), but also Paypal (300 orders per month) and Klarna (200 orders per month). They’re receiving around 200 purchase invoices a month from the different suppliers that they work with and they’re all being paid using company bank or credit cards. They’re keen to scale the business over the next 3 years and want to ensure that they have a solid exit strategy in place to ensure that they can achieve their objectives for the business. They, therefore, need monthly management reports, forecasting and monthly meetings to review performance and set future objectives. They’re using PAN-EU FBA so they’re registered for VAT in all 6 PAN-EU countries (France, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and Poland). They’ve also breached distance selling thresholds in Australia, South Korea and Japan and have GST registrations in each of these countries. Finally, as a result of a mix of economic and physical nexus, they are registered for GST in 10 US states and require GST filings in each. For everything they need, their total monthly fees will be £3,704 + VAT per month with an additional annual fee of £28,000 + VAT per year for certain international VAT/GST services where annual payment is required. This is made up of:

Compliance services

• Annual accounts and corporation tax return – £500+VAT/month
• Quarterly VAT returns – £20+VAT/month
• Payroll – £111+VAT/month
• Payroll payment processing – £18+VAT/month
• Confirmation statement – £3+VAT/month
• Personal tax return – £36+VAT/month

Compliance services total: £688+VAT/month

The above package also includes email, Zoom and telephone support; dividend documentation software and our tax investigation service at no additional charge.

Bookkeeping services

• Revenue reconciliation for 4 Shopify stores – £540+VAT/month
• Revenue reconciliation for Amazon – £90+VAT/month
• Revenue reconciliation for Etsy – £30+VAT/month
• Revenue reconciliation for eBay – £30+VAT/month
• Processing of purchase invoices – £405+VAT/month
• Bank reconciliation – £440+VAT/month

Bookkeeping services total: £1,535+VAT/month

The revenue reconciliation for Example limited company D is more complicated than a typical Shopify store as they have additional non-standard payment gateways. This makes revenue reconciliation more time-consuming as payment gateway fee data isn’t readily available in Shopify and there will be timing differences between Shopify data and payouts received. By contrast, our pricing for Amazon, eBay and Etsy reflect the efficiency of using A2X to collect all sales and fee data and consolidate it at a payout level.

Advisory services

• Monthly management accounts – £245+VAT/month
• 3-way financial forecasts – £300+VAT/month

Advisory services total: £545+VAT/month

International VAT & GST services

• GST filing for 10 USA states – £20,000 + VAT/year
• PAN-EU VAT filing – £8,000 + VAT/year
• Australian GST filings (simplified return) – £65+VAT/month
• Japan CT returns – £325+VAT/month
• South Korea VAT returns – £130+VAT/month

International VAT & GST services total: £28,000+VAT/year and £520+VAT/month

Software

• Xero – £31/month
• Dext Prepare – £10+VAT/month
• A2X Amazon/Etsy/Shopify/eBay – £375+VAT/ month

Software total: £416+VAT/month

The above includes Xero Premium, unlimited Dext Prepare, 4 A2X for Shopify Professional Plans (2,000 orders each), 2 A2X for Amazon Standard Plans (5,000 orders each), 1 A2X for Amazon Starter Plan, 1 A2X for Etsy Basic Plan (500 orders per month) and 1 A2X for eBay Basic Plan (500 orders per month). This software would cost £501+VAT/month if purchased directly from the software providers. We are however able to pass on our partner discount to you.

If you would like to discuss how Elver Consultancy can help your business please call us on 01942 725419, or complete the contact form to arrange an initial free consultation.