Don't want to pay accountant for botched tax return

textbook

My accountant messed up my tax return so I submitted it myself.   They gave me an invoice but I've signed nothing.   Shall I haggle for a discount or if I refuse to pay can they take me to court?

MorningcoffeeIV

In what way was it messed up, Mr Zahawi?  

Did you give them the opportunity to rectify?

[Deleted User]

textbook said:

My accountant messed up my tax return so I submitted it myself.   They gave me an invoice but I've signed nothing.   Shall I haggle for a discount or if I refuse to pay can they take me to court?

You have several threads ongoing- I would be surprised if the final version of your return isn’t ‘messed up’ to some degree as you have relied on some questionable advice.

Wonka_2

So did your account 'botch' your tax return or did he/she just submit it in a way that didn't agree with you/your brother ?

Assuming what they've done follows the rules then I suspect you'll struggle not to pay (and yes they can take you to court)

Obviously if it's a genuine error they've made that they admit to (or can be proved) then you're in a different position where you shouldn't be paying

Which is it ?

textbook

Wonka_2 said:

So did your account 'botch' your tax return or did he/she just submit it in a way that didn't agree with you/your brother ?

Assuming what they've done follows the rules then I suspect you'll struggle not to pay (and yes they can take you to court)

Obviously if it's a genuine error they've made that they admit to (or can be proved) then you're in a different position where you shouldn't be paying

Which is it ?

The apprentice botched it.  Basically calculated the covid grant twice and wanted me paying tax on an extra £3000 and taxed something which wasn't taxable despite me explaining to them it wasn't taxable.    I rectified and submitted it.   I didn't give them time to rectify I had no time before when it needed to be submitted  so did it myself.   I think the accountant just gave it to his apprentice to do as it was a cheap return -£190.  I used their expenses figure though.

textbook

So, can I legally refuse to pay?

Wonka_2

textbook said:

So, can I legally refuse to pay?

Of course you can legally refuse to pay - but only in the same way that they can legally then try and enforce payment if they feel they've acted correctly and can justify it.

Ultimately, if you want to let it get that far, a court will decide

ETA...and given some of your other posts I wouldn't fancy your chances in court so I'd be paying now and looking for another accountant

textbook

Wonka_2 said:

textbook said:

So, can I legally refuse to pay?

Of course you can legally refuse to pay - but only in the same way that they can legally then try and enforce payment if they feel they've acted correctly and can justify it.

Ultimately, if you want to let it get that far, a court will decide

ETA...and given some of your other posts I wouldn't fancy your chances in court so I'd be paying now and looking for another accountant

Wonka_2 said:

textbook said:

So, can I legally refuse to pay?

Of course you can legally refuse to pay - but only in the same way that they can legally then try and enforce payment if they feel they've acted correctly and can justify it.

Ultimately, if you want to let it get that far, a court will decide

ETA...and given some of your other posts I wouldn't fancy your chances in court so I'd be paying now and looking for another accountant

Can I just communicate my dissatisfaction and negotiate a cheaper price?   Surely, doubling my grants by £3000 and making me check the figures and another mistake demands a discount?   I'll wait for their letter I guess, maybe they're lose track of it.  Should I have taken it back and let them correct the mistake?  Will make me lose the case?

Wonka_2

You can demand/negotiate all you like - but the fundamental is they provided a (cheap) service and the quality of that service matched the price.

You can ask but if they say no then you're back in the same position of paying or not paying (and risking them chasing you for it)

p00hsticks

textbook said:

Wonka_2 said:

textbook said:

So, can I legally refuse to pay?

Of course you can legally refuse to pay - but only in the same way that they can legally then try and enforce payment if they feel they've acted correctly and can justify it.

Ultimately, if you want to let it get that far, a court will decide

ETA...and given some of your other posts I wouldn't fancy your chances in court so I'd be paying now and looking for another accountant

Wonka_2 said:

textbook said:

So, can I legally refuse to pay?

Of course you can legally refuse to pay - but only in the same way that they can legally then try and enforce payment if they feel they've acted correctly and can justify it.

Ultimately, if you want to let it get that far, a court will decide

ETA...and given some of your other posts I wouldn't fancy your chances in court so I'd be paying now and looking for another accountant

Can I just communicate my dissatisfaction and negotiate a cheaper price?   Surely, doubling my grants by £3000 and making me check the figures and another mistake demands a discount?   I'll wait for their letter I guess, maybe they're lose track of it.  Should I have taken it back and let them correct the mistake?  Will make me lose the case?

As a general rule of thumb, you'd usually give someone the opportunity to put things right before refusing to pay. 

If  the tax deadline meant that there wasn't time to do this, then I think a lot will depend on why time wasn;t allowed for you to check it and them to correct any errors.Was it because you only approached them late in the day or did they delay getting it done?

(I haven't read your other threads so apologies of this is answered there)

SeagullFTB

Based on your other thread, the accountant had prepared the tax return on or prior to 26 January (as this is when you were querying their calculations). This means that they would have had time to make any corrections before the deadline of 31 January, but you didn't give them to chance to do so.

Also, based on the other thread, you clearly had a lot of misunderstanding as to how to prepare a tax return or calculate tax/national insurance. Don't be surprised if your accountant files a report to suggest that they suspect you may have incorrectly calculated your income and tax, whether that be deliberately or accidentally, and trigger a tax inquiry.

If you genuinely believe that they made unacceptable mistakes in your tax return and weren't capable of correcting them, by all means, dispute your fees. But if it goes to court, they may provide evidence that they hadn't made mistakes and that you simply submitted an inaccurate tax return based on advice you received from strangers on the internet.