I had to smile when I read recently about the travails suffered by Neil Warren the Vat well know VAT Consultant and award-winning writer on tax when he tested the HMRC Vat Helpline for a short article in Taxation Magazine…
Category: Tony Talks
Do you talk to your clients?
A strange question to ask isn’t it? Do you talk to your clients? Surely all accountants talk to their clients and there is no doubt truth in that answer. However, if you discount the calls to chase information, to obtain…
Do HMRC REALLY value the work we do?
Below I have an extract from the latest Office of Tax Simplification Report issued this month (May 2019) relating to the “Strategy for Agents” the highlights and underlining are mine. “4.35 HMRC recognises the valuable role tax agents play and…
What will be the true cost of MTD4Vat?
As desktop users running their own paid for accounting software have been asked frankly eyewatering amounts to “upgrade” it became apparent that their software providers were looking to push them over to their new cloud based products and the users…
SARs: Your “Get out of jail free” card
Monopoly is one of the biggest selling board games in the world and has been played by families everywhere usually ending in a temper tantrum from one or other of the children or maybe the adults. “Community Chest” is the…
MTDfB delayed post April 2020
So, now we know MTD4VAT’s big strapping brother MTDfB has been postponed again until at least 2021. How was this piece of information conveyed to us? Was it via a massive email campaign or maybe a letter? or even in…
Estate Agents hit with Money Laundering Fines
As we read the news that Estate Agents Countrywide Estate Agents and Tepilo Ltd have been hit with fines of £215,000 and £68,595 and from HMRC for Money Laundering offences and that HMRC had visited 50 estate agents that they…
Are Penalties Working
Is the fine and penalty regime actually working? It seems that hardly a week goes by that we don’t get an email in our inbox talking about fines and penalties being levied for some infringement or other. We know that…
Recommendations cut both ways
The reality is that the majority of new business for any accountant is from recommendations from existing clients. I know it’s not as sexy as if we were able to say from social media or via direct message on Twitter…
If clients don’t listen to your advice
Do you value the advice you give? If the answer is YES do you actually charge for providing the advice? If the answer is NO are you surprised that the client doesn’t act upon the advice or seeks an alternative…