Professional Tax Advice

cookie said:
I wish to have a recommnedation for a tax consultant with regards to rental property for a consultation.

Thx
C
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Very interesting discussion on tax consultants and accountants BUT Any chance of answering the question for poor cookie here!!
 
"If, over time, these high net worth clients appreciated the value of the service, ie that it was saving them money, then I am sure that they would feel no remorse in moving as that is why some of them are high net worth individuals."

I think that a pre-occupation with the client 'moving' to you may end up holding you back from focusing on what should be your priorities. Clients don't 'move' from an accountant or solicitor to a tax adviser. To give you a few examples:

1. People hate standing out in terms of their dealings with the tax man. If you come up with a particular structure for a client to save a lot of money, and if the first disclosure of this will be in the tax return, they are still going to want their tax return to be filed by their usual agent. To do otherwise is (in client's perception) to wave a red flag to Revenue 'Yoo Hoo; got me a swanky ol' tax adviser! Let's see ya try to take money off me now!' (which, just to be clear, is a bad thing in most clients' eyes)

2. From a solicitor's perspective, whatever you have advised upon will usually be in the context of a transaction or inheritance, where there is work to be done that you simply cannot do.

3. I have sent detailed briefing documents to tax advisers to get detailed tax advice. I have also - where I felt the client was suitable for such an approach - simply sent the client to the tax adviser. I do this without batting an eyelid at the prospect of 'losing' a client, and I am at this a good while now. I have never 'lost' a client to a tax adviser, and I doubt I ever will.

4. Sometimes clients go to a tax adviser quite independently of me; I know this because they come back and talk to me about it, or ask me for a second opinion (though in fairness, I do have a particular expertise in Capital Taxes, and am probably known for it in my area). That is how it should be.

There is no prospect of a client 'moving' to you. You may eventually snag a few clients who want to have you on a general retainer - but they will not have 'moved' from their accountant: they will still involve the accountant (or solicitor, or both) in the tax planning process (even if they don't make this apparent to you).

You have to get rid of this notion, because otherwise it will just make you unhappy.
 
MOB, it was me who made the comment that you based your response on and not Mark_Mc & I am a novice in the taxation arena.
 
The one crucial point that no-one explains is how to build the relationships etc. I am 8 years in tax and among a alot of people I know I am "highly skilled and highly technical" but still find it difficult to find people receptive. Like, how, the magical how, do I get the first accountant to engage my on a consultative basis. That's nearly a sales man's skill and that's a different skill to being a tax advisor. That's the most crucial thing of all and nobody seems ever to be willing to disclose that magical piece of info.

InfoSeeker said:
I have been an interested party to this thread as I hope to become a qualified AITI in the next month when the results are released. I am in my early thirties & have moved into this area after 10 years in IT. My experience in sitting these exams was that there was a large number of qualified accountants doing likewise & the general feedback I received was that the AITI exams were not pleasant vis-a-vis the ACCA, ACA, CPA, CIMA. Therefore I would assume that these accountants would hold the AITI in high regard which can only help to promote the merits of the qualification.

Mark_Mc, my long term goal would be to move from being an employee to having my own "one man show". Unfortunately I cannot add any value to your predictment as I have no experience but my perception on how I would achieve my goal would be to build good relationships with solicitors & accountancy firms. The logic for this is that the service I would offer is one where, many people's perception, is that the contact person would be an accountant or solicitor (eg succession planning). Also I would have a lot of friends who are self employed but I probably could not even count on them as possible clients as they might not want me to be privy to their financial affairs. The relationship with the accountant/solicitor means that I would not have cold calls to deal with and in essence would be more of a consultant initially. If, over time, these high net worth clients appreciated the value of the service, ie that it was saving them money, then I am sure that they would feel no remorse in moving as that is why some of them are high net worth individuals. Perhaps, as you seem to have experienced, the reality in practice is far different from the theory highlighted above.

I wish you all the best in your venture, I hope things work out & if they do, then I hope to be asking for your advice in a number of years.
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Mark_Mc said:
That's nearly a sales man's skill and that's a different skill to being a tax advisor. That's the most crucial thing of all and nobody seems ever to be willing to disclose that magical piece of info.
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Hi Mark, one thing I have found as the years go on is that managing the sales process is an integral part of running a professional firm. As such, sales skills are absolutely essential if you are to do yourself justice. There are plenty of books and courses out there on sales skills, some are good some are rubbish. If I were you, I would dip my toes into some of those before too long.
 
Any recommendations on books? I think it's fair to say that I understand my business but just pulling all the skills together is the difficult part.

ubiquitous said:
Hi Mark, one thing I have found as the years go on is that managing the sales process is an integral part of running a professional firm. As such, sales skills are absolutely essential if you are to do yourself justice. There are plenty of books and courses out there on sales skills, some are good some are rubbish. If I were you, I would dip my toes into some of those before too long.
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Mark_Mc said:
Any recommendations on books? I think it's fair to say that I understand my business but just pulling all the skills together is the difficult part.
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You and everybody else, I think. Nearly everybody in with their own business can do the service they provide it's just all the stuff that comes with it. I for one spend more time doing things that I am unfamilar with, bookkeeping, sourcing work etc, than what I am actually trained in.
 
Mark_Mc said:
The one crucial point that no-one explains is how to build the relationships etc. I am 8 years in tax and among a alot of people I know I am "highly skilled and highly technical" but still find it difficult to find people receptive. Like, how, the magical how, do I get the first accountant to engage my on a consultative basis. That's nearly a sales man's skill and that's a different skill to being a tax advisor. That's the most crucial thing of all and nobody seems ever to be willing to disclose that magical piece of info.
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Mark, getting a running stream of clients is very difficult. You are not alone in this though. Any solicitor or accountant who sets up a new business will have the same problem. Some come from a family where contacts will help of course, or from a certain school or a political party. Mainly though it comes with time, hard work and a little own- pr.

So for example- write an article for a local newspaper on a tax issue that will affect the general public. Or write a more specialised article for the Law Society Gazette, or the equiv. accountants publications.

There is a big ask at the moment by county law societies for CPD courses- find out who is the president of the local law society and offer your services to a group of solicitors to give a CPD lecture in some area of tax- CAT, CGT or stamp duty being the most attended. VAT is of course relevant and many solicitors now farm out any VAT question to specialists. Have your business cards ready. I hate to say it, but smoozing is very important. Buying a few pints or cups of coffee over a chat is one way of getting to know the local solicitors or accountants at these kinds of meetings. It sounds facile but it is true. I remember one solicitor ( now very well regarded and prosperous) saying to me a few years ago that she made a point of going out to meetings and pubs and anywhere she could meet clients and putting her hand in her pocket and buying people a drink.

As MOB said you would be better off in the long run targetting solicitors and accountants who CAN direct business your way. Although I actually like CAT and CGT myself our firm now has a policy of farming out ALL this work to a specialist. I'm not a member of any old boys club. I will use the services of a specialist that I know, that I think is good and who is efficient. But how do I meet this person? Word of mouth from colleagues or possibly attending a lecture by them etc.

If you do decide to give a CPD lecture - don't be afraid to clearly state that you are looking for business, that you would appreciate any referrals etc.

Hope this helps.
 
Mark_Mc said:
The one crucial point that no-one explains is how to build the relationships etc. I am 8 years in tax and among a alot of people I know I am "highly skilled and highly technical" but still find it difficult to find people receptive. Like, how, the magical how, do I get the first accountant to engage my on a consultative basis. That's nearly a sales man's skill and that's a different skill to being a tax advisor. That's the most crucial thing of all and nobody seems ever to be willing to disclose that magical piece of info.
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You should really look at Vanilla's recommendation re the CPD

If you want an accountant to engage you then you must first demonstrate a level of skill / knowledge that they will be "impressed" with

Personally I would not even recommend a mortgage broker to a client unless I was very certain that they could be relied upon

As you stated earlier accountants do have relationships with their clients and this can be based on a number of years dealings

You cannot expect them to out their heads on the block

Also do not over estimate the amount of clients that a general practice will have that would avail of your services, possibly 2-3 for a normal 1-2 partner practice
The number who would benefit may be higher but in experience the amount who will engage and incur the additional costs will be 2-3

On that basis you should be casting your net far and wide with relation to meeting accountants / solicitors and other referees

And as Vanilla stated and I cannot over emphasise the point CPD lectures will be by far your best form of promotion/advertising

You will be seen at these meetings as an institute or law soceity approved advisor, even though this is not particularily the case, and this will be the first step in the door that you require

But you should remember that running your own business is about running your business and not just being a technically skilled professional

I am not the type for smoozing, I'm not very good at it, but put yourself in positions where you can demonstrate your skills and knowledge and you should get a lot of the introductions you need

Personally i do not find that the old boys network is anywhere near as prevelant as people like to think it is

Stuart
 
Just another thought on promoting oneself as a tax advisor, we've all seen those articles on papers, both national and local on tax advice. You know the sort, posed as a Q&A by someone with a tax problem and the professional gives their advice. The sort of questions that lots of people might have. Perhaps some exposure there might be of help. Try your local press, I don't know of any paper that would refuse copy especially if it's free. Once you get the ad for your practice in, it may help, a regular column would give a certain exposure locally anyway.

The CPD route is a definite plus too.
 
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