Can someone invoice you for the previous 5 years of work? Out of the blue!

LNH208

We have used an accountants for the past 5 years.  The bookeeper has regularly invoiced quarterly and the company has filed my corp.tax and self assessment.  They have never mentioned a payment for this. My bookkeeper is unwell so I decided to change company.  The company has now invoiced me for 5 years worth of fees.....mentioning it was all their fault and an error that they have not invoiced and now require payment.  As a small business this is large and unaffordable bill all in one hit.  I am shocked by this practice from an accountants.  Has anyone got any advice?  I know I am not the only small business owner they have done this to.  I want to know if I am legally bound to pay it.  There was no contract with the company.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Question do you run a business and give away your time for no fee?
If Yes, then no worry, do not pay them.
If No, perhaps you should pay for the services you used!

They have six years to claim or issue an invoice for your work.

lincroft1710

Did you honestly expect the accountants to work for free?

I think you would struggle to prove there was no contract as they did the work you asked them to do. A contract does not have to be in writing. 

If you don't pay and they took you to court, the probability is they would win. Start negotiating a payment plan and see if you can also negotiate a discount.

Annisele

I'm a bit confused by your comment that "the bookkeeper has invoiced quarterly". Do you mean that the bookkeeper is provided to you by the accountants, you've been invoiced quarterly, you paid quarterly, but now the accountants are saying you only paid for the bookkeeping services and not for the filing of the corp tax and self assessment? If that's the case, you might well be able to argue that the payments you've already made were intended by both parties to cover all the services rendered.

Or do you mean that you haven't been paying your accountants anything for five years? If that's the case, you most definitely owe them something!