Accountant charges too much - what to do??

jumperabv3

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum, and I'm from London, and I am self-employed.

I have received by post an invoice from my accountant, I am self employed and this is the second time he invoices me. I had no problems with the large amount on the first invoice due to the fact that I had to meet with him many times and talk to him over the phone, however everything after then (after the first quarter/invoice) was simple and I barely needed to contact him.

I agreed with him through email that I would pay him £250 for making a tax-return for myself, which was fine, howver the invoice that I have received today showing £760 for "preparation of tax return and various advice given by email" and with VAT it's almost comes to £900! :eek:

Now I agreed the tax return would be £250, no problems with that but why charging £510 for "various advice given by email"? I barely contacted him by email for an advice, I think I only had questions about what he wrote to me when he prepared the return and the rest was a few emails about the return itself (which was very simple and straightforward) and besides this there was no other service given to me.

I feel like this is totally unfair and outrageous to pay over £500 for something I wasn't given, my question is what can I do to dispute this charge? I have emailed him about this but he will return only in 2 weeks which is fine by me, but is there any other thing I can do to reduce this crazy price? I mean, first invoice was a larger amount but I met with him so many times and had phone calls but this quarter there was almost nothing, no phone calls, no meetings, purely a few emails and over 90% were technical only.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Judas

You can ask for a breakdown of his price but he is a trader; not a charity; answering your e-mail takes time and knowledge and if it isnt included in already paid for tasks then you will pay for these services.

jumperabv3

Judas wrote: »

You can ask for a breakdown of his price but he is a trader; not a charity; answering your e-mail takes time and knowledge and if it isnt included in already paid for tasks then you will pay for these services.

I counted the emails.
It's about 14-15 emails in total, not very long, some were very technical.
Do you want to tell me that it's normal to charge £500 for replying to 14-15 emails?

I know he's not a charity, and I know what's normal and what's not, but I don't think charging me £500 for the period is normal.

Kazz81

Ask him for the breakdown of scharges as advised above- you will probably find he has a per hour 'charge-out' rate and the costs are for reading, logging, researching and responding to your queries. Some items may have only taken a couple of minutes but he probably charges in 15 minute/30 minute intervals.

Surely you will have a record of his fee basis in your contract with him?

jumperabv3

Kazz81 wrote: »

Ask him for the breakdown of scharges as advised above- you will probably find he has a per hour 'charge-out' rate and the costs are for reading, logging, researching and responding to your queries. Some items may have only taken a couple of minutes but he probably charges in 15 minute/30 minute intervals.

Surely you will have a record of his fee basis in your contract with him?

Hmm... I don't have the contract with me right now, as I moved a flat since then and it's somewhere in my boxes, but generally speaking if I send him an email telling him "Dear ..... , I just wanted to let you know I paid you for the invoice you sent me" - can he charge me in the 2nd period for that email?? :eek:

I barely contacted him, I wish I could show you a screenshot of all the emails for the period and what they were about, I don't know how else to prove it, is there any organization in the middle that can help me dispute this in a case we cannot settle this by ourselves?

Kazz81

jumperabv3 wrote: »

Hmm... I don't have the contract with me right now, as I moved a flat since then and it's somewhere in my boxes, but generally speaking if I send him an email telling him "Dear ..... , I just wanted to let you know I paid you for the invoice you sent me" - can he charge me in the 2nd period for that email?? :eek:

I barely contacted him, I wish I could show you a screenshot of all the emails for the period and what they were about, I don't know how else to prove it, is there any organization in the middle that can help me dispute this in a case we cannot settle this by ourselves?

Yes he can, and for any phone calls you made to him, and voicemails you left that he listened to and any calls that he made to you. Your accountant should be able to back up the charges being made, so you will need to wait for the breakdown. Where I work we regularly request time sheets in support of invoices and dispute them if necessary. Dont worry about who to contact in case of dispute right now as you may find that there is not an answerable dispute there at all.

It seems unfair, but many professionals make their money on time spent basis, regardless of what that time is spent on.

Judas

jumperabv3 wrote: »

I counted the emails.
It's about 14-15 emails in total, not very long, some were very technical.
Do you want to tell me that it's normal to charge £500 for replying to 14-15 emails?

I know he's not a charity, and I know what's normal and what's not, but I don't think charging me £500 for the period is normal.

As already suggested it depends on his charging basis. If he has say a half hourly or hourly tariff premium then you get charged for each e-mail at 30 minutes.

Ask them and find out but tbh you have yourself to blame for not establishing the charging basis before using the service.

jumperabv3

Judas wrote: »

As already suggested it depends on his charging basis. If he has say a half hourly or hourly tariff premium then you get charged for each e-mail at 30 minutes.

Ask them and find out but tbh you have yourself to blame for not establishing the charging basis before using the service.

Well, I have established £250 for the tax return!
I was expecting to pay £250 or maybe a bit more but how can I establish something if he tells me when I asked him they invoice every quarter, I cannot tell how much he would charge in advance, but it's definitely an outrageous price.

Why are you tending to justify him so much, are you an accountant yourself and having same troubles with your clients?

Judas

You should ask him what his prices are? When he invoices you is irrelevent; what he invoices is relevent.

Kazz81

jumperabv3 wrote: »

Well, I have established £250 for the tax return!
I was expecting to pay £250 or maybe a bit more but how can I establish something if he tells me when I asked him they invoice every quarter, I cannot tell how much he would charge in advance, but it's definitely an outrageous price.

Why are you tending to justify him so much, are you an accountant yourself and having same troubles with your clients?

But it may not be an outrageous price, depending on how your accountant bills their time. I suggest you forget about this until your accountant is able to answer your request for a breakdown, and maybe try to find your contract in the meantime.

jumperabv3

Judas wrote: »

You should ask him what his prices are? When he invoices you is irrelevent; what he invoices is relevent.

Thank you for the advice.
I guess I have to ask him for a break-down of his services, but I can assure you this break-down should be empty unless if he fills out things that I wasn't given.

I'm talking about 14-15 emails in total, emails like "Thank you" or emails like "I made a payment", and perhaps 3-4 emails with a bit more than that, so I don't know what is there to charge me £500 for.

If we don't get into a proper agreement I would simply switch an accountant and go for another one, I don't think it's the end of the world, but I am really not happy to pay for something that he doesn't deserve, period.