I have recently moved accountants, due to my previous one not providing a very good service(Such as suggesting I register for VAT twice in one year and never doing it). In January this year I discovered he had forgotten to file my annual return to companies house, and as such I was presented with a wind-up notice which was only averted due to blind luck(A friend spotted it in the papers). This was the last straw, and I started moving to a bigger firm to deal with my accounts. In this process my new accountants contacted my old one, and asked for him to send on my full accounts from last year(He only sent my abbreviated ones), and he has been delaying this for nearly two months now. I logged into the hmrc site to check everything was setup for the new accountants to find a £300 fine waiting for me!! He registered the account for us, so he has been receiving the warnings, but for some reason he has not bothered to file my accounts for last year(11/14-11/15) and I'm now worried he hasn't even prepared them.
What actions can I possibly take against him? And what can I do if my full accounts for last year do not exist? I have bit my lip and kept things friendly up until now, but I have lost all patience and I am ready to start threatening legal action if necessary.
Thanks in advance,
Tony.
Related resources
Replies (12)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
Surely these are questions for your new accountants to help you with.
But the simple generic answer is that if your old accountant was qualified report him to his professional body. If he has no professional body your options are much more limited.
Slightly confused, 11/14-11/15 accounts (meaning November 2014 to November 2015) are overdue with HMRC? Are you sure re these dates?
If he suggested you register for VAT why is he at fault that you did not, or do you mean he agreed to arrange your vat registration?
Did he agree to file your annual return and carry the cost of same?
Before contemplating legal action have a careful read of the engagement letter to ensure you are on solid ground and even if you are legal action is likely the most expensive course of action you can take- you are either brave or foolhardy, it I was in your position I would more chase getting the company's affairs straight rather than launching myself at the courts.
Legal action
Before contemplating legal action have a careful read of the engagement letter to ensure you are on solid ground and even if you are legal action is likely the most expensive course of action you can take- you are either brave or foolhardy, it I was in your position I would more chase getting the company's affairs straight rather than launching myself at the courts.
Couldn't agree more about legal action - that is why I mentioned complaint to the professional body.
Legal action to recover a £300 loss would be the height of lunacy.
Which accounts
Can the OP please let us know
1) Sole Trader or Ltd Company
2) Who are fines from and why VAT? PAYE or Tax
3)What are the dates in question
Company
Can the OP please let us know
1) Sole Trader or Ltd Company
2) Who are fines from and why VAT? PAYE or Tax
3)What are the dates in question
Re 1, it's clearly a company - see references to Companies House and abbreviated accounts in the question.
Re 2, the fine is clearly from HMRC, but we don't know what for.
Check one thing first
On the face of it, your former accountant doesn't sound very good.
That said, as an accountant myself, I have one or two clients who are profoundly confused, who don't cooperate with or respond to me when I need them to do things, or who want to do things themselves because it's "cheaper" that way. And yet they're quite happy to turn around and blame me when they finally come back from an 18-month trekking trip in Nepal to find some deadlines were missed.
It certainly sounds like you're a bit confused. Have you taken your own responsibilities seriously and cooperated with your former accountant so they can do their job?
Thanks for the replies guys.
Thanks for the replies guys. My former accountant responded to 1 out of every 10 emails I sent him, and even less phone calls. I have always responded quickly, and with any information asked for. I have always paid bills on time.
On the VAT question, it was just an example of his general interactions with me. He clearly forgot that he had said previously that he would register me for VAT.
1 - I am a limited company
2 - The fine is from HMRC, for not filing my corporation tax return I think(Sorry, should have said this).
3 - The dates mentioned are my accounting year?
My new accountant is ready to help me, but they say they need my full accounts and only my previous accountant can provide those. Hence the burning questions really...If my full accounts were not submitted, and my accountant cannot provide them...What are my options?
Don't forget
Something else: How come that you never received any letter from Companies House or HMRC? That would have alerted you of what was going on. They are sent out to the registered address or addressed to the Directors of the company.
In the worst scenario, your options will be for the new accountants to prepare the previous accounts and to build up the accounts from the records available.
The complaint is confused in almost every
aspect. Reading through these details is a sorry tale, and for many of us delivering a service to a sole director it is an uphill struggle to educate and inform. The purpose of which is to ensure that a timetable is established, adhered to, and mutually agreed.
Even the HMRC penalty of £300 is almost impossible to reconcile. Since it will be the previous year's Company Return c/w accounts to 30th November 2014 which could only have suffered a penalty for late filing, and the fines are as follows.
1 day late of more, up to 3 months £100.
3 months or more up to 6 months another £100
6 months or more, a penalty of 10% of the 'determined' corporation tax payable. Therefore discovering a fine of a round £300 when looking up the CT record would be rather remarkable.
I am not defending this accountant, no, not at all, but I can quite imagine how statutory matters have become, out-of-hand, frustrated, and out of control.
The first thing that the OP could do is familiarise himself with the routine timetable required for the conduct and management of the company, and this of course, may be a contra complaint raised by the out going accountant. The director is ultimately responsible for statutory conduct.
Fees - Have the outgoing accountant's fees be paid ? And is there any intention to pay reasonable fees for the production of the 30th November 2015 accounts which are due, on the pay and file regime, on or before 31st August this year.
Most coins have two sides, and I would recommend a face to face lunchtime meeting in a local Pub where these matters should or could easily be resolved.
Another bad choice?
Your new accountant should contact your former accountant and get the necessary paperwork. He or she can also find out what's going on with your tax affairs and file anything that needs to be filed.
If they're not doing that then you may have chosen another wrong'un.
Personally, I wouldn't recommend making any sort of complaint against your former accountant as you're too confused to make a coherent case.
As stated previously, I have paid all fees, and always on time. And as much as I can appreciate a lot of you are accountants and want to stand up for him, it is not helping that you assume and imply my ignorance. I am aware of the schedule, and I did receive the warnings, all of which I forwarded to the accountant and asked him to sort(We had agreed he would deal with all these matters). He repeatedly insisted he had completed the necessary actions, but he had not.
Mabzden : My new accountant contacted my former(I said this in my first post), but he is going back and forth between not answering calls and promising to do it "tomorrow". And I am not confused, what I am is extremely busy starting a new company and wanting my accountant to take care of my accounts for me. I'm not assuming people will do things for me, or ignoring my responsibilities, and I am more than happy to pay for the services I need doing. My new accountant seems to be doing a good job of it, I am now VAT registered and my PAYE is properly setup.
I've also spent two days loading three years worth of accounts into the package they asked me to use, so they can now sort everything out for me.