WooCommerce accountants for UK online shops.
Your own shop means nobody between you and the customer. It also means nobody else is keeping the record for you.
On a marketplace, the platform at least produces a settlement report. On your own WooCommerce site, your sales arrive through one or more payment providers, already net of their fees and any refunds, and the value added tax (VAT) your shop charges is only as right as the tax settings someone chose when the store was built. We rebuild your real sales from each provider, check that your store charges VAT only when it should, and file your accounts and tax returns. Fixed monthly fees from £129 plus VAT, from a CIMA-regulated firm.
Why does a WooCommerce shop need a specialist accountant?
- Your deposits are not your sales
- Card and wallet payments land in your bank net of the provider’s fees and any refunds, often in batches that mix several days of orders. Your accounts start from your completed sales to customers, with the fees shown as a cost. Work from the deposits and both your sales and your costs come out too low.
- Your store decides the VAT on every order
- WooCommerce charges whatever tax its settings tell it to. You must register for VAT to start charging it, so a shop showing VAT before registration has a problem, and so does one still charging nothing after it should have registered. We check the settings against your actual position.
- The threshold counts every channel
- You must register for VAT once your taxable turnover passes £90,000 in a rolling 12 months, and sales on Amazon, eBay or TikTok Shop count alongside your own site. Register late and you owe VAT on sales made since the date you should have registered, whether or not you charged it.
- No platform report to lean on
- Sales through your own site do not arrive with a marketplace’s year-end summary. The order export, the provider statements and the bank are the whole record, so they need reconciling to each other every month rather than once a year.
What your customers paid versus what reached your bank.
One month for an illustrative shop selling homeware, not yet VAT registered. The figures are made up to show the mechanics.
- Sales to customers, including shipping charged
- £15,000
- Less refunds
- £500
- Sales after refunds
- £14,500
- Less payment provider fees
- £400
- Paid into your bank
- £14,100
Your accounts start from the £14,500 of sales after refunds, with the £400 of fees as a cost. The shipping you charged is part of the sale, not a separate pot. And it is the £14,500, added to your sales on any other channel, that counts towards the £90,000 VAT threshold, not the £14,100 deposit.
Where do WooCommerce shops usually go wrong?
Most of these start with the bank feed being treated as the sales ledger.
- Recording deposits as sales
- A deposit is several days of sales, less fees and refunds. Post it as sales and turnover, costs and your VAT threshold position are all understated.
- Tax settings that do not match reality
- VAT switched on before registration, or still off after it. Prices entered as including VAT when the shop treats them as excluding it. Each one puts the wrong figure on every order.
- Shipping left out of sales
- Delivery you charge the customer is part of what you sold. Leave it out and your turnover is understated, along with any VAT due on it.
- Refunds and chargebacks netted away
- When a refund or chargeback is simply netted off a deposit, nobody can see what was sold and what came back. Record them separately so the sales figure is real.
- Overseas orders treated like UK ones
- Where the customer is and how much the parcel is worth decide the VAT and who accounts for it. We check your overseas sales rather than assume the UK rules apply.
Not sure your shop’s numbers add up?
Book a free call and bring three things. We will look at how your deposits turn into sales, where you stand against the VAT threshold and what your store’s tax settings are doing.
- An order export from WooCommerce for the last few months
- Statements from each payment provider you use
- Sales from any marketplace you also sell on
What does a WooCommerce accountant actually do?
01Payment provider reconciliation
Every provider’s statement matched to your order export and your bank, with fees, refunds and chargebacks split out.
02Store VAT settings
Your tax classes and price settings checked against your VAT status and your effective date of registration.
03VAT registration and returns
Your rolling sales across every channel watched against the £90,000 threshold, registration done on time, and VAT returns filed under Making Tax Digital.
04Stock and cost of goods
What you bought, sold and wrote off tracked, so your margin is real and your year-end stock figure is right.
05Overseas sales
Orders to customers outside the UK reviewed, so the VAT treatment fits where the goods went and what they were worth.
06Year end and tax returns
Self Assessment as a sole trader, or accounts and Corporation Tax as a limited company, filed on time with the bill flagged early.
How do we take over your shop books?
- 01
Discovery
Understanding your business needs.
- 02
Solution Design
Crafting your custom accounting strategy.
- 03
Onboarding
Quick and easy integration.
- 04
Regular Rhythm
Consistent monitoring and reporting.
Tax guides worth a read
Plain-English explainers, kept current with the latest HMRC rules.
WooCommerce tax and VAT questions, answered.
Once your taxable turnover passes £90,000 in a rolling 12 months, yes. That is sales, not deposits, and it includes anything you sell on Amazon, eBay, Etsy or TikTok Shop. If you register late, you must pay VAT on the sales made since the date you should have registered.
No. You must register for VAT to start charging it. If your store’s tax settings add VAT before you are registered, they need switching off, and the VAT already collected needs looking at.
No. Deposits are net of the provider’s fees and any refunds, and often cover several days of orders. Your accounts start from your completed sales, including the shipping you charged, with the fees recorded as a cost.
If you sell as an individual and your gross trading income, before any costs, is £1,000 or less in a tax year, the trading allowance usually means you do not need to declare it. The allowance does not apply to a limited company.
Yes. We keep every channel in one set of books, so your VAT threshold, stock and profit are measured across the whole business.
Our fees are fixed and monthly. Essentials is £129 a month plus VAT for year-end accounts, Corporation Tax, your director’s Self Assessment and support. Premium Plus, from £250 a month plus VAT, adds quarterly VAT returns and payroll.
One firm for your shop, your VAT and your year end.
A WooCommerce shop gives you control of the store, the prices and the customer. The accounting has to match that control: every provider reconciled, the store charging the right VAT, and one set of books across your own site and any marketplace you sell on. Zmartly is CIMA-regulated and led by Harvey Dhillon, its founder and CEO.
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Zmartly Ltd, 12 Hammersmith Grove, London W6 7AP. Call 020 8175 5145. We work with WooCommerce shops across the UK, online. Fixed monthly fees from £129 plus VAT, on a rolling monthly basis with no long tie-in.
Stop overpaying tax. Start filing in 5 days.
Thirty minutes with a qualified accountant. Most owners uncover £1,000-£3,000 in annual savings on the first call. If we are not the right fit, you walk away with a free tax review on the house.
