Care Home Accountants for Owners and Operators
We keep the accounts, reconcile the funding, run the payroll and file the tax for care homes and the people who run them, so you can run the home. A firm regulated by the ACCA, with a fixed fee agreed before we start.
- An ACCA-regulated practice, fixed fees agreed first
- The VAT welfare exemption handled, not guessed at
- Payroll, sleep-ins and the minimum wage kept right
- Buying or selling a care home, and the tax on it
Get a Fixed-Fee Quote
Tell us about your home. We reply within one working day, with a fixed fee agreed before any work begins.
Where a Care Home's Fees Come From
A home lives on three income streams, each paid and reconciled differently. Tying them into one clean set of accounts is most of the work.
Self-Funding Residents
Residents who pay their own fees until their capital falls to the £23,250 means-test limit, when the council may step in.
Local Authority Funding
Fee rates set council by council, often below the private rate, reconciled against the placements you actually hold.
NHS Continuing Healthcare
Full NHS funding for residents with an ongoing health need, not means-tested, assessed case by case.
Three income streams, reconciled into one set of accounts
Care Is Exempt, and That Costs You
Welfare services from a regulated care provider are exempt from VAT, not zero-rated. You charge no VAT, but you cannot reclaim the VAT on your costs either, so it is a real expense to plan for rather than recover.
Source: HMRC VAT Notice 701/2. Checked 28 July 2026.
A care home is a business that is paid three ways at once. Some residents fund themselves, some are funded by the council at a rate set locally and often below the private one, and some are funded in full by the NHS. On top of that sits a workforce paid largely at or near the minimum wage, with sleep-ins and agency cover, and a VAT position that is the opposite of most businesses: care is exempt, so the home charges no VAT but cannot reclaim the VAT on what it buys.
We do the whole of it for residential homes, nursing homes and home care providers. Care home accountants exist because the funding mix, the irrecoverable VAT and the payroll rules are specific enough that a general accountant tends to miss what they add up to.
What We Do for Care Home Owners
The bookkeeping and year-end accounts with the three funding streams reconciled against the placements you actually held, the VAT position handled correctly given the welfare exemption, the payroll for care and ancillary staff, and the corporation tax or Self Assessment return at the end of it. Management accounts are run by occupancy and by fee type, because a home that cannot see its cost per occupied bed cannot see where it is losing money.
When you come to buy or sell, we handle the goodwill, the property, which is usually the largest asset, and the capital gains, which is where the biggest numbers in an owner's life sit.
Where the Money Side Gets Hard
Three things trip up a general accountant in this sector. The VAT is exempt, so the temptation to reclaim input VAT is a mistake that comes back later. Sleep-in pay turns on the Royal Mencap Society Supreme Court judgment, which decided that a worker permitted to sleep is not owed the minimum wage for the hours asleep, only for time awake and working. And local authority income arrives at rates set council by council and has to be reconciled placement by placement rather than taken on trust.
Getting those three right, quarter after quarter, is most of what a specialist adds.
How We Quote
A fixed fee in writing before anything starts, set by what you run and how many beds or staff rather than by an hourly clock. A single small home is a different price from a group with a payroll of a hundred and a stocktake of placements across three councils.
If your figures are straightforward, we will tell you what you can reasonably do yourself rather than quote for it.
What We Do Not Do
We do not sell tax-avoidance schemes. Tidy Money Ltd is regulated by the ACCA, and the job is to apply the rules correctly and claim the reliefs you are due, not to sell you a structure HMRC will later unpick.
We are also not a directory. Your enquiry does not go to a panel of firms, nobody pays us to be recommended, and there are no testimonials on this site, because we will not publish any we cannot evidence. We do not run an inbound phone room either, so you will not be cold-called.
Guides for Care Home Owners
Plain explanations of the money side of running a care home, from the VAT exemption to the tax on a sale, written for people who run homes rather than for other accountants.
VAT and the Welfare Exemption
Why care is exempt rather than zero-rated, and what the irrecoverable VAT means for your costs.
Care Home Fees and Funding
The three ways a place is paid for, and the England capital limits behind each one.
Sleep-In Shifts and the Minimum Wage
What the Mencap ruling settled about paying for sleep-ins, and the current wage rates.
Buying a Care Home
Valuation, goodwill, the property and CQC, plus the tax waiting on a future sale.
Capital Allowances on a Care Home
Where the allowances fall on fixtures and plant, and why the building itself is unsettled.
Making Tax Digital for Care Providers
When quarterly digital reporting reaches sole trader and partnership care providers.
What We Are Engaged to Do
Accountants for Care Homes
Accounts, VAT, payroll and tax for residential and nursing home operators.
Accountants for Domiciliary Care
Accounts, travel-time payroll and mileage for home care and domiciliary agencies.
Buying or Selling a Care Home
Deal support on goodwill, valuation, and the CGT and reliefs when a care home changes hands.
Care Home Payroll
Managed payroll for care staff, sleep-in shifts, agency cover and minimum wage checks.
Care Home Accounts and VAT
Year-end and management accounts by occupancy, plus the welfare-exemption VAT position.
Common questions
How much does a care home accountant cost?
It depends on what you run and how large it is: a single small home is a different price from a group with a large payroll and placements across several councils. We quote a fixed fee before starting rather than an hourly estimate, so you know the number before you commit.
Why can a care home not reclaim its VAT?
Because welfare services from a regulated care provider are exempt from VAT, not zero-rated. Exempt means the home charges no VAT on its fees, but it also cannot reclaim the VAT it pays on its own costs, so that VAT is a real expense to plan for. We make sure the position is handled correctly rather than a reclaim being attempted that HMRC would later unwind.
Do we have to pay the minimum wage for sleep-in shifts?
Not for the hours the worker is permitted to sleep. The Royal Mencap Society Supreme Court judgment in 2021 decided that a sleep-in worker is not doing time work while asleep, so the minimum wage applies only to time they are awake for the purpose of working. Many homes pay an agreed allowance for the sleep and the minimum wage for waking work. We set the payroll up to reflect that correctly.
How does local authority and NHS funding affect the accounts?
A resident may fund themselves, be funded by the council, or be funded in full by the NHS through Continuing Healthcare, which is not means-tested. Council rates are set locally and are often below the private rate, and self-funders move onto council support once their capital falls to £23,250. We reconcile the three streams placement by placement so the income in the accounts matches the care you actually provided.
I am thinking of selling my care home. What tax will I pay?
On a sale you are usually looking at capital gains tax on the goodwill and the property, and Business Asset Disposal Relief may reduce the rate on qualifying gains up to a £1,000,000 lifetime limit. The BADR rate has been rising, so the timing of a disposal matters, and we model it on your figures before you commit to a sale.
Tell Us About Your Home and We Will Quote
Tell us whether you run a care home, a nursing home or a home care agency, and what you need: the accounts, the VAT position, the payroll, or a sale. We come back with a fixed fee for the work and the dates that apply. If your figures are simple, we will say so rather than quote for a full package.
Get a Quote