Fined for accountant not filing

[malbecblue]

Hi all - any advice gratefully received. I've been contracting for a couple of years, and have at times had a choppy run with my accountants.

Now I have received a fixed penalty fine from HMRC for non payment of corporation tax for a short 3 week bridge period between tax years (the accountant adjusted my tax year to a month end, hence there was a 3 week bridging period). Having made what I thought was the correct payment as advised by my accountant, I was surprised to receive a reminder notice a few months back, which I immediately forwarded to the accountant. They said it was a standard letter and that they had checked with HMRC and I owed nothing.

Now having received the penalty notice, my accountant said they now realise they hadn't filed the return for the bridge period, hence I must pay the penalty. When they had checked on the HMRC website when I had forwarded the reminder, they said it showed no amount was owed, and it did not flag up that a return had not been made. As compensation they say they can offer me one month of accountancy at no charge. This only just covers the penalty. Does this seem reasonable given they fouled up so massively? Is there any place other than the accountant I can raise this as a complaint as it's pretty poor if an accountant can't get my tax right?

Thanks

[Hex]

Hi all - any advice gratefully received. I've been contracting for a couple of years, and have at times had a choppy run with my accountants.

Now I have received a fixed penalty fine from HMRC for non payment of corporation tax for a short 3 week bridge period between tax years (the accountant adjusted my tax year to a month end, hence there was a 3 week bridging period). Having made what I thought was the correct payment as advised by my accountant, I was surprised to receive a reminder notice a few months back, which I immediately forwarded to the accountant. They said it was a standard letter and that they had checked with HMRC and I owed nothing.

Now having received the penalty notice, my accountant said they now realise they hadn't filed the return for the bridge period, hence I must pay the penalty. When they had checked on the HMRC website when I had forwarded the reminder, they said it showed no amount was owed, and it did not flag up that a return had not been made. As compensation they say they can offer me one month of accountancy at no charge. This only just covers the penalty. Does this seem reasonable given they fouled up so massively? Is there any place other than the accountant I can raise this as a complaint as it's pretty poor if an accountant can't get my tax right?

Thanks

Seems like they're offering to compensate you for the penalty - that seems fair enough. Why do you expect more? If you don't like their service then move to another accountant.

[northernladuk]

Happened to me with my first accountant, one man band, hard to get hold of, didn't understand contracting etc. He also admitted fault and deducted the fine from my costs. As soon as he did I swapped to one of the large contracting specialists and have had a problem in years.

[malbecblue]

Seems like they're offering to compensate you for the penalty - that seems fair enough. Why do you expect more? If you don't like their service then move to another accountant.

Thanks for replying - I agree it's absolutely fair enough to just cover the cost of their mistake. I guess I hoped that, as in other service industries, they might also consider the lack of delivery of the service I paid for, or the time I've spent trying to sort it out. Though it's a hope rather than expectation- and I wanted to see if others had any better experiences of turning around poor service! I also wondered if maybe if there was any kind of regulator for complaints so that even if I move from them they might at least need to address issues that led to this so it doesn't happen to others in future.

[jamesbrown]

There are professional bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants, but I doubt it's warranted for something "trivial" like this. I'm sure it's irritating, but they seem to be offering reasonable compensation IMHO. Vote with your feet

[gertysingh]

As others have said, yes you can do this thru the ICAEW if they are a member: ICAEW Home | ICAEW

But think you will get the same result thru them. Though there is interesting stuff on how an accountant should behave.

Alternatively why not try negotiating with them. After all you would do that with any other service industry.

(At least your accountancy firm have admitted negligence and have provided you some form of compensation. Mine were S*** and the owner is an arrogant B*******)

[JamJarST]

Thanks for replying - I agree it's absolutely fair enough to just cover the cost of their mistake. I guess I hoped that, as in other service industries, they might also consider the lack of delivery of the service I paid for, or the time I've spent trying to sort it out. Though it's a hope rather than expectation- and I wanted to see if others had any better experiences of turning around poor service! I also wondered if maybe if there was any kind of regulator for complaints so that even if I move from them they might at least need to address issues that led to this so it doesn't happen to others in future.

Lets spin this around and pretend it was you that had messed up at a client, presumably your contract says you rectify mistakes at your own cost, would you pay them compensation and or give free service over and above that? I don't think I would so I think I would be content with the accountants offer.

[malbecblue]

Lets spin this around and pretend it was you that had messed up at a client, presumably your contract says you rectify mistakes at your own cost, would you pay them compensation and or give free service over and above that? I don't think I would so I think I would be content with the accountants offer.

Actually yes I would, and have. Probably why I'm hoping for more from them! More fool me I guess.

[JamJarST]

Actually yes I would, and have. Probably why I'm hoping for more from them! More fool me I guess.

Interesting and fair enough. I wouldn't personally expect or want to be enriched out of the compensation, considering they admitted fault and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really hurt.

[psychocandy]

As long as you're not out of pocket I guess is minimum you can expect.

I know its all well and good that some are saying hes paid up so its OK but my opinion is I dont want to waste me time sorting out things that others have cocked up.

I would consider a new accountant unless they're really good and this is going to be a one-off.