GoForma's qualified accountants support UK creatives: YouTubers, musicians, actors, photographers, designers, and influencers. We handle self-assessment, IR35 reviews, limited company accounting, and expense claims for creative work.
Trusted by UK contractors, freelancers and limited-company directors since 2020.
Pick the situation closest to yours to see what your accountant handles. Every client works with an ACCA or AAT qualified accountant.
What we cover
Full-time and part-time creators with AdSense, brand-deal, Patreon and merch income across multiple platforms.
Full-time and part-time creators with AdSense, brand-deal, Patreon and merch income across multiple platforms.
What we cover
Creators monetising Instagram, TikTok and other platforms through sponsored content, affiliate links, gifted product and brand partnerships.
Creators monetising Instagram, TikTok and other platforms through sponsored content, affiliate links, gifted product and brand partnerships.
What we cover
Recording artists, producers, session musicians and composers with royalty, performance, teaching and sync licensing income.
Recording artists, producers, session musicians and composers with royalty, performance, teaching and sync licensing income.
What we cover
Photographers and videographers running their own studio or working freelance, with the kit-heavy expense profile that comes with it.
Photographers and videographers running their own studio or working freelance, with the kit-heavy expense profile that comes with it.
What we cover
Actors, voice-over artists and performers with multi-job Self Assessment, residual and royalty income, and agent commission.
Actors, voice-over artists and performers with multi-job Self Assessment, residual and royalty income, and agent commission.
What we cover
Graphic designers, illustrators, web designers and other commercial creatives with freelance client and royalty income.
Graphic designers, illustrators, web designers and other commercial creatives with freelance client and royalty income.
Guides by profession
Not just the filings: the dedicated accountant, the contract guidance, the software, and the structure that makes accountants for creatives actually work for you.
Designers, illustrators, photographers, writers, filmmakers, musicians and video creators rarely earn evenly: lumpy retainers, royalty cycles, residuals, grants and one-off commissions. Your dedicated accountant helps you plan for the tax on that income, and for the equipment and studio costs that go against it.
Foreign royalties, PRS, MCPS and DACS payouts, ALCS distributions, streaming and YouTube income, Arts Council grants and prize money each need the right treatment on your return. Where tax has been withheld abroad, double taxation relief is claimed where it applies.
We claim the creative costs you are entitled to: a share of home studio running costs, kit and equipment (deducted directly on the cash basis, or through capital allowances), software subscriptions, font licences, props, archive storage and travel for location work.
Many creatives trade as sole traders. On 2026/27 rates a limited company does not lower the tax on profit you pay out to yourself, but it can suit you if you want to keep profit in the business, time dividends or limit your personal liability. Your accountant compares both on your real figures, including the IR35 implications if a big client starts to look like long-term fixed work.
FreeAgent is included, worth £360 a year, with project tracking to show profitability per client or commission. Log mileage from your phone and capture expenses by photo, so the figures are there when you next quote.
You shouldn't have to learn accounting to run a creative practice. We translate the technical bits, such as VAT registration, MTD, payments on account and dividends, into plain English, and point out things you might not have known to ask about. The goal is for you to spend less time on tax, not more.
Answer a few quick questions and we'll match you to the right package, with a price tailored to your business. Takes about 60 seconds.
| Feature | GoForma |
|---|---|
| ACCA or AAT qualified accountants | ✓ |
| Packages from | £22 a month (sole traders), £28 a month (limited companies) |
| Dedicated personal accountant | Start packages and above |
| FreeAgent software (worth £360 a year) | Every package |
| WhatsApp support | Start packages and above |
| Rolling monthly, cancel anytime | ✓ |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days |
Transparent fixed fees. Most creatives start on a sole trader package. We will tell you if a limited company structure makes sense for your income level.
From a free consultation to your accounts set up in FreeAgent.
A free call with an accountant to walk through your income sources and the right structure for you.
Pick a fixed-fee package, complete ID/AML checks and sign the engagement letter online.
If you're moving from another accountant, your new accountant works through the handover with you.
Your bank accounts connect to FreeAgent, with simple income categories for irregular creative income.
Speak to your accountant, ask quick questions via WhatsApp, and get filing reminders before deadlines.
The Self Assessment, Corporation Tax and VAT filings in your package prepared and submitted, with you briefed before anything goes to HMRC.
Quoted word for word from our Google reviews, under the names Google shows.
I highly recommend GoForma. Very efficient practise that turned around my tax return quickly. Dealt with Jordan and Jawad, comms was always clear and to the point. Great value for the service they provide
Jawad was knowledgeable and efficient and helped me to submit my tax return - it was a straightforward process and will use him again.
Most grateful to Jawad for helping me configure FreeAgent and addressing my accountancy questions with patience, clarity and specificity.
I've been working with Kabir for a few weeks now and couldn't be happier.
Read all 72 reviews on Google.
A creative industry accountant supports actors, musicians, photographers, designers, YouTubers, influencers, content creators and other creative professionals with the financial and tax complexities specific to creative income. That means understanding royalties, residuals, sync licensing, sponsorship deals, AdSense and Patreon income, equipment expenses, and the volatile multi-source income that makes Self Assessment particularly tricky for creative people.
Creative income doesn't look like a salary. You might have 80,000 pounds one year from a sync placement and 15,000 the next. Income arrives in dribs and drabs from PRS, PPL, BMI, Spotify, YouTube, brand deals, royalties, residuals, performance fees, teaching, workshops, and merch. Each stream has its own tax treatment and timing. An accountant who knows these income streams helps you report each one correctly, file on time and plan for irregular cashflow.
Creative income is fundamentally different from a salary. You have multiple revenue streams that arrive at different times, in different currencies, sometimes with tax already withheld. You have legitimate but unusual expenses: costumes, instruments, plugin libraries, conference travel, equipment that depreciates fast. You may receive income across multiple tax years for work done in one year (royalties, residuals). And you often have a year-on-year income shape that triggers Payments on Account in good years and overpayment refunds in lean ones.
Volatile income makes planning worthwhile. The timing of discretionary spending such as equipment purchases, pension contributions and training decides which tax year the relief falls in, and your accountant can talk this through with you before the year ends.
Most creatives start as sole traders. On 2026/27 tax rates a limited company that pays out all its profit leaves you with less take-home pay than trading as a sole trader, so a company is not a tax saving in itself. What it gives you is flexibility: you pay yourself a salary, can leave profit in the company, and choose when to draw dividends or make employer pension contributions. For creators with brand deals and sponsorship income, the limited company also creates a clear contracting entity which makes commercial agreements easier.
Guides
Tax, expenses and finding work when you are a freelance creative.
Your accounting matters too much to be handed off to an offshore team you'll never meet. Every GoForma client gets a named, UK-qualified accountant, with a London office and a phone number that picks up.
UK off-payroll working rules. They decide whether a contractor working through a limited company is genuinely in business or is a 'disguised employee' for tax purposes.
Read the official HMRC / gov.uk guidanceThe tax a UK limited company pays on its taxable profits, currently between 19% and 25% of profit depending on profit level. Filed annually via a CT600 return.
Read the official HMRC / gov.uk guidanceThe annual personal tax return that a limited-company director files for their own income, typically dividends, salary and other personal income. Deadline: 31 January.
Read the official HMRC / gov.uk guidanceHMRC's programme that requires VAT-registered and self-employed taxpayers to keep digital records and file via approved software like FreeAgent.
Read the official HMRC / gov.uk guidanceAn annual filing to Companies House confirming the company's directors, shareholders and registered office. Separate from CT and SA, but every limited company has to file one.
Read the official HMRC / gov.uk guidanceA set of HMRC rules for the construction sector where contractors deduct money from subcontractor payments at source and pass it to HMRC as advance tax.
Read the official HMRC / gov.uk guidance
