Just looking for some advice on behalf of my brother-in-law. He was using an accountant over the last couple of years to do his sole trader tax returns, however, this year he has had problems. He gave over all paperwork in Nov last year, it got to the end of Jan and the tax return still had not been done & he only got confirmation of how much we was due to pay late on the 31 Jan, which meant he recieved the automatic £100 fine. He had issues with lack of communication & reasons why.
I have said to him that he should complain to his professional body, however, I am unable to see that he is registered with any body. He doesn't seem to have a website or any online presence apart from being listed in a number of business databases with just name, address and telephone.
It also turns out he has messed another small business around that my brother-in-law know, causing £250 HMRC fines.
It works out well for me as I am being given the work, but I feel that they should not be paying these fees as these were not their fault.
If an "accountant" is not registered with a professional body, I presume there is not requirement for PII insurance and it is downt to the accountant to take personal responsibility and refund these fees.
Does anyone know whether it would be worth complaining to HMRC as he must be a registered agent with them.
HM Revenue and Customs PAYE and Self Assessments Po box 1970 Liverpool L75 1WX
27 February 2013
Dear Sir or Madam Further to my call to you last week regarding my client (THEIR DETAILS INC. UTR)
I would like to inform you of her circumstances of the last few years.
Until recently our client has used an independent accountant to file tax returns on her behalf. It has recently come to light that this accountant has not carried out their job correctly and failed to file tax returns for (NAME) for the last few years, 2010 & 2009. Fortunately for (NAME) she had no way of earning any income in these years due to giving birth, so earned no money from her self employed status. She recommenced employment for herself later last year, for which the return for 2010-11 is currently being filed. Due to this over sight, on the accountants behalf, (NAME) is now currently being fined for the two years she was out of employment when a NIL Earnings return should have been completed. Would it be possible to review her account and make the changes necessary to reflect this new information? If you would like any more information regarding our client then please contact us using the above details.
Yours sincerely
Gary Martin
This was one of the first 'on duty' letters i had to write to HMRC and they overturned her fines and understood that the previous 'accountant' hadn't done thier job properly... got about £500 worth of fines and interest quashed due to this letter. For all the stick they get if you give them a good enough reason then they are pretty understanding.
