Retirement and Professional clearance letters

how to respond as no longer a Professional

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Having now retired, I wonder how to respond to professional clearance letters, given I am no longer a 'professional',
Would the wording change?

Replies (19)

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Scalloway Castle
By scalloway
01st Jul 2021 19:58

When I retired I got one query which came via the client. I guess if I had any enquiries I would have supplied a trial balance and the last self assesment then said I was no longer trading.

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By Cloudcounter
01st Jul 2021 20:49

If it's just a case of the wording, I'd use exactly the same as before retiring. I can't think of any circumstances that would require a change, and nobody is going to care in my opinion.. All that the new adviser cares about is getting the information to take up the appointment.

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By Mr_awol
01st Jul 2021 21:13

Surely you handed off, sold, or gave notice to, all your clients BEFORE retiring?

Ie you wouldn’t fully close down the practice until this had all been dealt with? Except for the odd straggler who was told about a year ago to find a new guy but hasn’t bothered, perhaps

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Replying to Mr_awol:
RLI
By lionofludesch
01st Jul 2021 21:29

Mr_awol wrote:

Surely you handed off, sold, or gave notice to, all your clients BEFORE retiring?

Ie you wouldn’t fully close down the practice until this had all been dealt with? Except for the odd straggler who was told about a year ago to find a new guy but hasn’t bothered, perhaps

Still got about 20 of those. Waiting for them to realise that it's not too soon to appoint someone else.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
01st Jul 2021 21:27

It's not professional clearance, so you don't need to be a professional.

You just need to say that you know of no reason why the new fella should not accept the appointment.

It's been this way since I was a student over 40 years ago. Yet folk still talk about professional clearance as granting some sort of permission to the new accountant to act. You don't have that power. The taxpayer can appoint who he wants.

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By Tax Dragon
02nd Jul 2021 06:57

Does stopping trading really mean you are no longer (a) professional? (The responses all seem to take it for granted that you can still provide 'professional clearance'... +1 to that, btw.)

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
A Putey FACA
By Arthur Putey
02nd Jul 2021 09:47

Raises the question, do you need runoff PI to cover anything you say after retiring? Or if not, does that mean you shouldn't respond because you have no PI should you say the wrong thing?

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By bernard michael
02nd Jul 2021 09:42

Once a professional always a professional

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Replying to bernard michael:
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By Tax Dragon
02nd Jul 2021 09:57

Raises the question, do you need runoff PI to cover anything you say after retiring? Or if not, does that mean you shouldn't respond because you have no PI should you say the wrong thing?

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
02nd Jul 2021 10:57

Aren't practitioners meant to keep PII going for a year or two after selling or retiring? I always thought so.

Any advice on that, Lion?

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Replying to I'msorryIhaven'taclue:
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By Merseyside Mike
02nd Jul 2021 11:59

Run Off PI covers negligent acts that were undertaken prior to the run off date, but where the claim is made after the run off date. It essentially goes into "run off" to cover acts that have already happened where the exposure will gradually diminish as the years go by and older mistakes become time barred, eventually expiring when all potential claims have been extinguished.

It DOES NOT cover any negligent advice made after the policy goes into runoff.

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Replying to Merseyside Mike:
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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
02nd Jul 2021 12:24

Thanks Merseyside Mike, very useful.

And oddly enough I'm blastin' Merseybeat tunes through my headphones while reading your post. Yeah, yeah, yeah....YEAH!

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Replying to I'msorryIhaven'taclue:
RLI
By lionofludesch
02nd Jul 2021 15:39

I'msorryIhaven'taclue wrote:

Aren't practitioners meant to keep PII going for a year or two after selling or retiring? I always thought so.

Any advice on that, Lion?

I don't know whether it's mandatory but I'll be doing that anyway.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
Scalloway Castle
By scalloway
02nd Jul 2021 19:14

Run off insurance is mandatory for some institues. Certainly the AAT ask for it.

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
A Putey FACA
By Arthur Putey
02nd Jul 2021 12:02

Plagiarist!

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Replying to Arthur Putey:
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By Tax Dragon
02nd Jul 2021 14:54

Yours was such a good question it was worth asking twice.

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
A Putey FACA
By Arthur Putey
02nd Jul 2021 18:01

If only there was a +1 button for questions!

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Red Leader
By Red Leader
02nd Jul 2021 20:56

I would respond unprofessionally:

"Who wants to know and what's it to you anyway?"

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Replying to Red Leader:
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By grevco
06th Jul 2021 14:43

Brilliant!
made me chuckle!!!

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