Accountant made a mistake on my Self Assessment

[frontenddeveloper]

Hi,

I received a letter from HMRC saying I am under investigation because the tickbox for students loan repayments was not checked and I have an outstanding students loan.

I have proof in form of an email that I gave the accountant the correct details and he/she simply missed it due to their incompetence.

Now HMRC are threatening me with a penalty fine. I know ultimately its my responsibility to make sure that the details are correct, and I did provide the correct details (they also do my accounts for my Ltd)

If I am paying for a service then surely some responsibility should fall on the accountants shoulders and if THEY make a mistake they should pay for it or at least fix the problem, rather than hide behind T's&C's and say sorry mate you should have checked it thoroughly.

What do I do?

Take the hit and pay the fine myself?

Fight and insist the accountant pay the fine or get it it dropped?

Thanks in advance

[northernladuk]

Have you actually bothered to speak to your accountant first? Surely that would be the sensible thing to do.

Mine made a mistake many many moons ago and he apologised profusely and paid the fine. All very amicable and easy to sort out...although I did ditch him very soon after that.

[Clare@InTouch]

Your accountant will likely have no responsibility because they will be covered by their terms of engagement and the fact that they ask you to check the return before they file it (I assume?)

That being said, they may offer some recompense if you ask them.

I'm surprised HMRC are threatening a penalty, unless there are other errors or outstanding issues? Usually I'd expect just a letter explaining why they disagree with the return and requesting payment of the amount that had always been due plus interest. I'd appeal a penalty if you're being charged one, on the grounds that it was a simple mistake (bit harsh to call it incompetent in my view, anyone can make a mistake from time to time. Unless its happened a lot obviously!)

[northernladuk]

You need to switch accountants IMO... I suggest...

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Have they actually said they are going to fine you or have they just said something like "you may be fined"? Presumably you actually owe repayments on your loan, 9% of everything above the £15k threshold? What year was the SA for, how overdue is the repayment?

[TheFaQQer]

What does your accountant say?

[kevpuk]

You need to switch accountants IMO... I suggest...

Where can I sign up?

Seriously though, firstly you should speak to your Accountant(s) - ideally actually speak, not email/write. You will almost certainly have final responsiblity for submissions, and I would expect that is clearly noted in the T&C/T of E with your Accountants.
As for penalty, I agree that this is not really warranted on prima facie evidence; most likely - as other have said - an equitable request would be more along the lines of amount owed + interest.....that said, I guess a lot depends on the rest of the nitty-gritty

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

I received a letter from HMRC saying I am under investigation because the tickbox for students loan repayments was not checked and I have an outstanding students loan.

Despite the wording on the letter you will have received from HMRC, it is unlikely that a fine will be levied. If it is just a simple compliance check they can usually be dealt with quickly and easily.

If interest is payable, your accountant might offer to subsidise this for you but the reality is that you are responsible for the correct submission of the return.

[frontenddeveloper]

Have you actually bothered to speak to your accountant first? Surely that would be the sensible thing to do.

I have spoke to my accountant and he didn't seem too bothered he said he will file an amendment to the return and I should pay the the amount that was due. I did that and once the money went out of my account rang up HMRC the following day to make sure everything was OK, only to be told that the amendment has not gone through because I am still being investigated.

He did assure me that the penalty can get dropped if I filled in a form, agreed to some conditions. (he also said I had human rights ).

So now I have emailed my accountant to let him know what the HMRC guy said and see what his response will be.

You need to switch accountants IMO... I suggest...

I would ditch them, but I like them for my day-to-day Ltd they are good..all online, nice graphs, bank statements auto uploaded etc. That's why I paid them to do my self assessment (all under one roof). But, lets see how this situation resolves and I may have to look for a new provider.

What year was the SA for, how overdue is the repayment?

The year was 2011-2012, not sure when they would have been due, but I have paid them now.

[northernladuk]

I would ditch them, but I like them for my day-to-day Ltd they are good..all online, nice graphs, bank statements auto uploaded etc. That's why I paid them to do my self assessment (all under one roof). But, lets see how this situation resolves and I may have to look for a new provider.

Ah yes.. nice graphs, that makes up for the mistakes they make preparing your accounts and exposing you to HMRC.