A reader and good pal sent me an email to look over recently. It had two elements that should strike fear in to any landlord.
First of all it was offering tax work at such low prices that they cannot possibly be “value”. I’ve written before that If you are paying less than a few hundred pound you are probably wasting your money. Why? Well you have to look at basic maths. A tax advisor has many, varied and elaborate hoops to go though to became expert.
Their regulators require high levels of continuous training (I’ve scheduled in 8 hours already this month on top of regular tax reading of easily a few hours a week). Add in any kind of reasonable hourly rate for expert works and overheads and you realise that a service offering guaranteed lower tax for £99 is a fallacy.
The price isn’t the key issue here though. The word “guaranteed” is the problem. To offer a guarantee of tax savings is to say that everybody that does not use their service is paying too much tax. Everyone. Yes of course it is possible that many people are overpaying tax. My own evidence of quizzing audiences shows that on average participants get only three questions right out of ten.
It is also equally true that these errors work both ways. Often when correcting someone’s tax position you actually increase their tax. Why? Well the tax hs to be right. Not higher or lower but right.
Why then would a membership organisation with tens of thousands of member send out such promises in an email? Who knows. It baffles me and should baffle you.
What do I offer? The lowest legal level of tax as calculated by a twenty plus year Chartered Tax Advisor. I make no promises on whether that will be more or less than you currently pay but the peace of mind of the tax being right has value. Hopefully you agree.