Monday, May 19, 2008

Tax assurance for tax partners in smaller practices

This idea was put to me recently. I wonder how much interest there would be among the hundreds of accountants and tax advisers who have already registered on the Tax Advice Network website?

Almost no one can be an expert in all areas of tax - especially those that they don't have to consider very often. Are there ever situations where a report or paper is required for a client but where you have neither the time or inclination to research and write something from scratch?

Would it be helpful to instead choose and brief a suitable tax expert from the Tax Advice Network? Your role could then be focussed on guiding your client through the advice and helping them to decide what and how to take action. You'd be adding value and everyone would benefit from the way you have effectively 'outsourced' the specialist tax work. You will also have reduced the risk to your practice of giving advice on a subject with which you are not really that familiar.

Of course some people prefer to research new things all the time and are able to recover all of the associated fees from clients. But even then, wouldn't a second opinion be a valuable part of your tax assurance process?

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