The risk is not black and white

This guide sets out realistically what you can get wrong, what the consequences are and when it is worth paying a professional. For the legal framework, see Can an EOOD owner do the bookkeeping themselves?, and for a cost comparison — DIY or an accountant: what each one costs.

Who is liable

Key rule: the signature on the declarations and the GFO is yours (as the company's representative), no matter who prepared the documents. A good accountant reduces the risk of mistakes, but does not shift the tax liability onto themselves.

The most common DIY mistakes

1. A missed invoice — the most common cause of an incorrect VAT return and of "unexplained" balance differences
2. The wrong tax treatment — an intra-Community supply, reverse charge or export recorded as an ordinary 20% sale
3. A missing VAT period — issuing an invoice when the month is not open, and therefore recording it late
4. An unfiled zero return — "I had no activity" does not mean "I don't file"
5. Payroll mistakes — social insurance income above the ceiling, incorrect contributions, late D1/D6 declarations
6. Missed depreciation — fixed assets with no depreciation recorded distort the result and the tax base
7. Closing a period with drafts — years are closed with unfinished documents and then reopened

Firmify catches most of these mistakes early — for example, it won't let you issue an invoice without an open period or post an unbalanced entry. The rest is process: a monthly checklist and a check before filing.

Fines and consequences

When the risk becomes unacceptable

DIY is a reasonable choice, but there are profiles where a mistake costs far more than the fee:

• Employees and payroll — sick leave, holidays, civil contracts, D1/D6 declarations
• Heavy EU trade — intra-Community acquisitions, exports, triangular transactions, OSS
• High document volume — 100+ invoices per month
• The first year after registration — when internal processes have not settled yet
• A tax audit, inspection or dispute with the NRA
• A medium or large enterprise — statutory audit and a GFO from a qualified accountant

If your company falls into any of these groups, rely on a professional at least for that area (for example, payroll only or the year-end closing only).

How to reduce the risk

1. Work with a monthly checklist — Monthly accounting checklist for an EOOD
2. Don't miss deadlines — enable the deadlines calendar in the accounting module
3. Check before filing — open the VAT ledgers and confirm that all invoices are included
4. Close periods on time — How to close an accounting period
5. Plan an annual review — even with full DIY, one review by an accountant before filing the GFO is cheap insurance
6. Keep an audit trail — reversing entries instead of deletions, credit notes instead of edits; Firmify does this by default

💡 Rule of thumb: if you cannot briefly explain why a transaction was recorded this way, that is a signal to ask an accountant — before filing, not after an audit.