Securing fees

KEY POINTS:

• Advisers need to be sure of what any professional expenses insurance covers.
• PEI may be particularly suited to small to medium sized firms.
• Treatment of premiums in clients' accounts.

Investigations are a fact of life as all tax advisers know. Self assessment has made this inevitable with its random enquiry system. 'Process now ask questions later' is very much the approach that HMRC take so no client is completely free from risk of enquiry. Then there are the enquiries that arise on corporation tax and VAT clients. While investigations may not have the same stigma that attached to them pre-self assessment they remain an expensive additional cost for clients.

Professional expenses insurance provides a way of covering the professional fees incurred carrying out investigations work. Various suppliers offer PEI and a selection of them together with...