Accountant made incorrect tax returns

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Purple

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My wife is a sole trading professional and is due a tax audit and asked me to have a look over her accounts for the last few years and it look very much like her accountant has seriously underestimated her tax liability. He has been furnished with all receipts, pay slips, bills and other relevant documentation but even a cursory examination shows that there is no correlation between the figures he submitted and the information he furnished. It looks very like he didn’t bother to do the slog work and just made the figures up (and then charged €3’500). Both my wife and I have strong opinions about tax evasion so this has come as a bit of a shock. He is a charters accountant. What recourse, if any, does she have with his professional body and where does the Revenue stand in this sort of situation? She has no problem paying any tax that it owed but Revenue charge penalties in situations like this?
 
Taxpayers are fully responsible for their own returns and Revenue may not accept the excuses given. Hopefully you will get some advice from current practioners but my experience with Revenue is that provide you are fully open and honest with them they will come to a satisfactory arrangement. Obviously all tax due and interest must be paid but they may go easy on penalties. Regarding accountant you should contact him immediately and explain the nature of your greviance against him. If he ignores the problem or you want to take the matter further you can report him to ACA institute. You will need to prove your claim of neglegience.
 
Thanks BrenG, that's what I thought the case would be with Revenue. What can the ACA do? Can they direct him to pay the interest and penalties? If not there's not much point in going near them. I have to admit I don't have a lot of respect for professional bodies (Medical council, law society, Bar council etc) so I’m not expecting much.
 
2 issues here. If you are getting this type of service then there must be other clients in similar position. By failing to report the incompetence you are letting him continue with these practices. ACA and generally other professional bodies do take these claims seriously. Also by using the threat of a report you may get some direct compensation from him for any losses suffered.
 
I don't know what powers the professional body has.

From a legal stance however I'd imagine your wife has a strong case against her accountant for professional negligence. Compensation will, at the least, take the form of any penalties/ interest on the tax and, indeed, the fees paid to this man for a service obviously not rendered correctly. Possibly other damages depending on the circumstances.
 
Thanks BrenG and Vanilla. I know my wife will not play hardball with this guy so I will have to wait and see what he says when they meet.
 
Professionals do make mistakes. However if a mistake is made then they must be accountable. I think often perhaps the best way to approach this type of situation is as your wife may want to do it- present the problem to the accountant and see what his reaction is. He should be given an opportunity to rectify the mistakes. If he is big enough to do this and make sure your wife suffers no loss- and I think I'd be seeking a refund of fees- then it may not be worth the stress of taking it any further.

But if he does not own his mistake, then personally I would tell him that I would be considering both reporting him to his professional body and taking a civil action against him.

Perhaps join your wife at the meeting for a bit of moral support ( and some glowering in the background)?
 
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