Have I been Conned?

[MarillionFan]

Troll? Why? Spud etc was far too trusting and paid over an absurdly large sum without looking into it properly but that doesn't mean being ripped off is ok or legal.

It seems to me that a professional advisor asked to advise how to to save money, especially when paid that sum, should reveal the full costs of any course of action that he proposes. Any decent advisor should surely ask if unpaid taxes were due, but even if that is supposed to be obvious, this LLP thing wasn't. Sounds like incompetence or rippoff to me.

He's pertaining to the fact that Spud appears as naive and innocent as Gogo Yubari.

[xoggoth]

Agree, I'd never gave paid that sum or anything like it, but it's not the point MF. If people choose to pay for professional advice rather than look into it themselves, they should get sound advice and if they don't get it, it is reasonable to demand a refund.

I can't understand why the accountant couldn't give this advice. Seems he is as much to blame and I would take a complaint to the professional body. Is there one for the tax advisor?

PS Had to google Gogo Yubari:

Gogo Yubari (played by Chiaki Kuriyama), a young associate of O-Ren Ishii, is a bloodthirsty severely disturbed 17-year-old schoolgirl who takes a sadistic delight in killing.

Er?

[spud5706]

As I suspected, you are one of the trolls we seem to acquire at the weekend.

I'll leave you to your 'predicament'.

Hmm, not quite sure how you work that out?

Troll? Why? Spud etc was far too trusting and paid over an absurdly large sum without looking into it properly but that doesn't mean being ripped off is ok or legal.

It seems to me that a professional advisor asked to advise how to to save money, especially when paid that sum, should reveal the full costs of any course of action that he proposes. Any decent advisor should surely ask if unpaid taxes were due, but even if that is supposed to be obvious, this LLP thing wasn't. Sounds like incompetence or rippoff to me.

Exactly, Thank You.

[v8gaz]

Spud, you've learned an expensive lesson, but you really need to understand the basics of stunning a ltd co. The LLP thing sounds very dodgy, and I suspect that if you suggest to the 'advisor' that your about to talk to HMRC for an opinion, he may be happy to refund some of your cash.

[cojak]

However don't compound your naivety/problems by listening to the advice of anonymous strangers on a public web forum. Losing serious money means getting serious advice.

Go to the nearest Citizen's Advice Bureau and get them to point you to someone who can help. If you don't know the governing body of this guy, it could be a long drawn out fight.

And I'd be looking at asking some very tough questions of your accountant before dumping him.

[spud5706]

Spud, you've learned an expensive lesson, but you really need to understand the basics of stunning a ltd co. The LLP thing sounds very dodgy, and I suspect that if you suggest to the 'advisor' that your about to talk to HMRC for an opinion, he may be happy to refund some of your cash.

However don't compound your naivety/problems by listening to the advice of anonymous strangers on a public web forum. Losing serious money means getting serious advice.

Go to the nearest Citizen's Advice Bureau and get them to point you to someone who can help. If you don't know the governing body of this guy, it could be a long drawn out fight.

And I'd be looking at asking some very tough questions of your accountant before dumping him.

Yes your both right, thanks for your help.

regards

[prozak]

Wow.

It sounds to me like you misunderstood the advice, heard what you wanted to hear and told him to act immediately.

However, he has seemed to charge you a bit too much for the advice.

You can take him to task for charging too much for the advice. Read up on the sale of goods and services act.

however, any claims of being misled look like they'll be easily refuted.

[NotAllThere]

Couple of points.

1. You've not been conned. You've failed to understand the implications of advice given. (This may still mean the advisor is culpable, but it's never a good idea to fling around accusations of criminal behaviour).

2. You're very unlikely to get anywhere with the corp tax being 20% "extra" argument. To many people it's obvious that the corp tax isn't your money, so the advisor was quite correct in his advice. As you've seen, if you'd declared dividends to get the money out, in terms of tax, you'd have paid more.

And a third point

What was being attempted may be construed as tax evasion. This could give you a handle on the advisor - conspiracy to commit tax evasion or something? On the other hand, you being party to it, won't reflect well on you. Ignorance of the law isn't an excuse.

[spud5706]

Wow.

It sounds to me like you misunderstood the advice, heard what you wanted to hear and told him to act immediately.

However, he has seemed to charge you a bit too much for the advice.

You can take him to task for charging too much for the advice. Read up on the sale of goods and services act.

however, any claims of being misled look like they'll be easily refuted.

Nope, I certainly didn't misunderstand the advice, I asked the guy so I have £100,000 in my account how much will I pay, he said 10%, so I said ok all the tax I will pay from my account is £10,000 and he said yes, how much more clear can that be?

Couple of points.

1. You've not been conned. You've failed to understand the implications of advice given. (This may still mean the advisor is culpable, but it's never a good idea to fling around accusations of criminal behaviour).

2. You're very unlikely to get anywhere with the corp tax being 20% "extra" argument. To many people it's obvious that the corp tax isn't your money, so the advisor was quite correct in his advice. As you've seen, if you'd declared dividends to get the money out, in terms of tax, you'd have paid more.

And a third point

What was being attempted may be construed as tax evasion. This could give you a handle on the advisor - conspiracy to commit tax evasion or something? On the other hand, you being party to it, won't reflect well on you. Ignorance of the law isn't an excuse.

1. So your saying a tax advisor is not conning you by telling you things that are not going to make a NET saving with my business?

Why in the hell would I pay for a service that costs me £10,000 more in taxes/fees and opens up a can of worms with the tax people?

His advice was not only wrong (as it doesn't save me money), he was deliberately misleading with his figures and overcharged by a ridiculous amount. There is no way he can justify his advice?

2. It is of course obvious to you that you have to pay corp tax on the earnings because you spend you time in a tax forum, to me it is not obvious when someone tells you that you will pay £10,000 (10% of my business account) and thats it.

Why didn't he explain that it will in fact cost 30%? I'll tell you why because he knew obviosly I would never take the deal.

Anyway I'm tired of this, thanks to those of you that have tried to help, I'll find out today what the outcome is.

[prozak]

Nope, I certainly didn't misunderstand the advice, I asked the guy so I have £100,000 in my account how much will I pay, he said 10%, so I said ok all the tax I will pay from my account is £10,000 and he said yes, how much more clear can that be?

I would need a transcript....

however, he is correct.

He can easily have assumed you already thought of the 20% CT liability as you have an accountant.

Hey what about VAT! I'm surprised you aren't complaining that you also owe VAT...

If you told me you had 100k in "your" account I would also assume that you have already paid all CT and VAT and were looking at a way to get at the 100k.

he overcharged. but most of this looks like misunderstanding on your part.