Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q: What does Back Office NOT do :-

A: We do :-

NOT work on the dubious "Agents" method……………Beware!!

NOT invoice in Back Office's name and/or just "refer" to your name in small print

NOT treat your Invoices as our own Statutory Revenues!

NOT treat your temps/contractors as our own!

NOT charge separately for admin. and interest etc.

NOT charge fees on the VAT component of your invoices

NOT have ownership ties to another (rival) organisation

NOT apply concentration limits

NOT charge minimum annual fees.

BEWARE... there are some tricky practices out there. The "Devil is in the detail". So, be careful - and choose wisely!

Ere be Dragons (press article)

Q: Can you pay my temps if they are limited companies?

A: Yes, Limited companies are fine, so long as they supply an invoice

Q: Can you pay them if they are VAT registered?

A: Yes, no problem, so long as they supply a copy of their VAT certificate (and a VAT invoice!)

Q Given the threat posed by IR35, can you pay PAYE/NI if necessary?

A: Yes, no problem, it is the most common way that we pay people

Q: How do we deal with PAYE/NI deductions?

A: You don't have to.
We work out what they are, based on each individuals personal Tax Code
We deduct them from their Gross Pay
We pay them over to the Inland Revenue (on your behalf)

Q: How do we know that Back Office have paid over our PAYE/NI liability for us?

A: We are unique in this business.
Most of our competitors will just have a single scheme with the Inland Revenue, into which "pot" will be added your temps too.
In Tax terms, they will be considered as their temps, not yours!
And your PAYE/NI liability/payments will be hidden in one big "pot".
BUT, with Back Office, every client has their own individual scheme with the Inland Revenue.
Therefore, if ever you want to independently verify your company's position - feel free!

Q: How do we deal with CSA, student loans, Attachment of Earnings etc?

A: You don't have to.
We deduct them from the temps wages and send them off to the relevant authority for you.

Q: How do we deal with VAT?

A: To save you the worry of "putting enough aside" each week to pay the VATman, we do it for you
So, you can forget about VAT until each becomes due
At that time you will receive a schedule of both VAT on sales (to be paid) and VAT on costs (to be claimed back)
We will then send you that money to cover your VAT liability/payment
Therefore, you can pay the VAT man, safe in the knowledge that you have enough money.

Q So why don't Back Office pay it direct to the VATman, on my behalf (like PAYE/NI)

A: We would if we could!
However, you will also have paid VAT on your own overheads (like telephones, advertising etc.) which we know nothing about.
Therefore, when you fill in your Quarterly VAT Return, you can claim this back off the Government.
So you will actually pay over LESS than that which we will have given you.

The result is :- each Quarter you get a Cash Surplus on VAT!

Q: How can I be sure that my business data will not be made available to my competitors, if I outsource?

A: Because Confidentiality is paramount to Back Office's relationship with our clients. We are not owned by one of your competitors, We do not "sell" our client list to mailing companies. We do not even publish lists of our clients names.
Our client confidentiality is sacred.

Question : Can I afford to use an outsourced back office service ?

A: Can you afford not to ?

Most people just consider the cost of the salary for the extra staff they would need to employ, plus "something" for working capital funding and credit control.

They forget the hidden costs involved like:-

Time spent Supervising & Managing extra staff
Covering for Holidays & Sickness with suitably skilled replacements
Errors or mistakes because your staff are not managed by specialists
Investing in new systems, computers and software, and training
Keeping-up with the ever-changing legislation
Extra property/space costs (rent, rates, electricity, telephone etc.)
Extra equipment (computers, phones, cars etc.)
Borrowing working capital to cover temps/contractors wages and unpaid debtor invoices
Time spent on cashflow management, VAT, PAYE&NI etc and reports to "keeping the bank happy"
Insuring against bad debts - Your company's biggest threat!!
etc
and TIME not selling - Your scarcest resource! - the "Opportunity" cost alone is huge

Question : Some back office suppliers charge in different ways - How do I compare prices?

A: Correct - BEWARE of some of the "tricks" being played

1) Back Office Support Services charge on a straightforward % of your Pre-VAT Sales Revenue

a) This is an "all - inclusive" rate with no "hidden charges"
b) It is based upon your Sales Revenue PRE-VAT
c) We pay the temps/contractors wages for you - and pay you your Profit Margin to you "upfront"
d) Therefore, it is effectively 100% funding
e) But we do all the cash funding for you

2) Contrast that with some of the alternatives being offered

a) Multi-charges : an "Administration" Charge + an Interest Charge + Credit Checking Charges
+ Drawdown charges + "Setup" Charges etc etc. Loads of "extra" charges
which they curiously forget to bring to your attention - until it's too late (i.e. after you have signed up!)
b) Charges are based on your Sales Revenue AFTER-VAT
c) You pay Interest on Outstanding debts - where is the incentive for them to be good at your Credit Control?
d) You may be restricted to funding of only (say) 75 or 80% of your Invoice value
e) You end up having to "manage" your cashflow needs - wasting more time!

Question : O.K., but what does that mean in practice - ('cos I'm confused by it all)

A: Let's see a simple example then, of how our competitors may charge you:-

say :- Sales Revenue = £10,000 per week
therefore, when VAT is added, the "Invoiced Debt" = £11,750 per week

and say that the Terms were 30 Days, but the customer actually pays, to the industry average, of 49

and say you do 5 credit checks on new, prospective customers each week

and say you want your Profit Margin "upfront" to cover your own staff salaries, bills, car costs etc.

This equates to a charge of 6.1% of your £10,000 Sales Revenue

Have you spotted the problem (for you!) in using their charging method? It APPEARS a cheap deal when you just look at their component %'s, but the maths shows it to be not so rosy in the end!

Question : Just show me how Back Office Support Services charge then

A: Easy! We simply charge a straight forward % of your Pre-VAT Sales Revenue (i.e. the £10,000 in the example above)
We would quote you an easy, uncomplicated % which could then be directly compared to the 6.1% above. Our % covers all of the above components (and a few more!) in a single "all embracing" figure And that's it!

Question : So what % would Back Office Support Services charge me?

A: At last, the $64,000 Question!

For the answer to it, you would need to speak directly to our sales team.
The reasons for this are simple
a) Client Confidentiality = Back Office Support Services ethos
b) Prices vary
They will depend upon :-
i) the Industry Sector you wish to service
ii) your Debtor Day experience (i.e. how long your customers ACTUALLY take to pay)
iii) the size of your business (economies of scale may apply)

If further clarification/information, or any unanswered questions then, please e-mail us at sales@backofficesupportservices.co.uk

Also, if you have any comments (good or bad!) or suggestions to improve the topics, content or style of the website then please email them to info@backofficesupportservices.co.uk

We welcome your feedback
We support constructive criticism and Kaizen / Continuous Improvement