Hi everyone,
Apoligies for the long first post...
I started contracting a couple of years ago with my own Ltd company which was managed by an accountancy firm. However I decided to return to college and asked them to close down the company in Sept 07.
In April 08 they emailed me telling me they wanted to prepare cessation accounts to Sept 07. They asked me to tell them if there were any business expenses I had paid out of my pocket and stated that if there weren't they would proceed on this basis.
I replied immediately indicating that there were not any expenses, and forgot about it, imagining they would simply get on with the accounts.
In January 09 I suddenly realised that I had heard nothing from them and rang them to make sure everything had been settled. They emailed me back saying they were still waiting for a response to the business expenses email. I re-sent it, making the point that I had already sent it and they then got on with it, finally sorting out the accounts in Mar 09.
Then in May 09 I recieved a £600+ (penalty and interest) for late payment of Corporation Tax. When I challenged the accountants about how this situation came about, they claimed they never received my original email.
They added that as the company was in the process of being dissolved, the tax man may not chase the penalties and that if I didn't pay them they could be written off. As a gesture of good will they offered to pay the £125 interest on the penalty.
Unfortunately I had already paid the fine. I said this was not good enough and they have now offered me another £100 but no more. So I have paid out over £600 and they are offering me £225.
My question is: should I accept this? I should have checked they had sorted the accounts earlier but surely I was paying them to stop this sort of thing happening. If they somehow lost my email surely they should have asked for it again?
Thanks for reading this far!
Any advice would be greatly apperciated.
flashboy
Apoligies for the long first post...
I started contracting a couple of years ago with my own Ltd company which was managed by an accountancy firm. However I decided to return to college and asked them to close down the company in Sept 07.
In April 08 they emailed me telling me they wanted to prepare cessation accounts to Sept 07. They asked me to tell them if there were any business expenses I had paid out of my pocket and stated that if there weren't they would proceed on this basis.
I replied immediately indicating that there were not any expenses, and forgot about it, imagining they would simply get on with the accounts.
In January 09 I suddenly realised that I had heard nothing from them and rang them to make sure everything had been settled. They emailed me back saying they were still waiting for a response to the business expenses email. I re-sent it, making the point that I had already sent it and they then got on with it, finally sorting out the accounts in Mar 09.
Then in May 09 I recieved a £600+ (penalty and interest) for late payment of Corporation Tax. When I challenged the accountants about how this situation came about, they claimed they never received my original email.
They added that as the company was in the process of being dissolved, the tax man may not chase the penalties and that if I didn't pay them they could be written off. As a gesture of good will they offered to pay the £125 interest on the penalty.
Unfortunately I had already paid the fine. I said this was not good enough and they have now offered me another £100 but no more. So I have paid out over £600 and they are offering me £225.
My question is: should I accept this? I should have checked they had sorted the accounts earlier but surely I was paying them to stop this sort of thing happening. If they somehow lost my email surely they should have asked for it again?
Thanks for reading this far!
Any advice would be greatly apperciated.
flashboy
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