Tax work can involve confidential financial information, commercially sensitive records and decisions with significant consequences. Our approach is designed to keep the engagement clear, properly scoped and grounded in the client's actual facts and evidence.
Professional standards should influence the way the work is carried out — from accepting the engagement and handling information through to reaching a tax conclusion, communicating uncertainty and dealing with concerns.
Good professional conduct is not simply a statement on a website. It should affect how clients are accepted, how tax conclusions are reached, how confidential information is handled and how difficult questions are communicated.
A tax position should not depend on facts that are known to be false, incomplete or deliberately misleading. Where information is inconsistent, it should be resolved before it is relied upon.
The engagement should match the knowledge and resources required. Where a matter falls outside the agreed service or requires another specialist, that should be recognised rather than improvised.
Client information should be handled for legitimate professional purposes and should not be disclosed simply because another party asks for it.
Advice, tax-return preparation, calculations, implementation and HMRC representation are different types of work. The engagement should make clear what has actually been agreed.
Potential conflicts should be considered before accepting or continuing work so that competing interests do not undermine professional judgement.
A material tax conclusion should be supported by the relevant documents, chronology and facts rather than being selected merely because it produces the preferred tax result.
Some tax matters depend on evidence, valuation, residence facts, contractual terms or the precise way in which a transaction has been implemented. An adviser may therefore need to work with assumptions or identify more than one technically possible interpretation.
Where that uncertainty is material, the client should understand it. A professional answer is not made stronger by pretending the facts are clearer than they really are.
A lower tax liability should follow from the applicable facts and law, not from a promise made before the position has been reviewed.
An adviser can calculate, represent and argue a position, but should not promise how HMRC or a tribunal will decide a matter.
Where the work depends on an assumption, the assumption should be made clear rather than hidden within the calculation.
A conclusion on one tax or transaction should not automatically be treated as advice on every connected legal or financial issue.
Tax advisers handle sensitive financial information and may communicate with HMRC on a client's behalf. Appropriate client acceptance and engagement procedures therefore take place before substantive work begins.
Appropriate identity and client information is obtained through the onboarding process rather than through a public enquiry form.
The tax issue, relevant years, transaction and any live deadline are identified before the professional scope is confirmed.
Responsibilities, deliverables and the basis of the engagement are recorded before substantive professional work begins.
Documents are requested according to the work being undertaken rather than asking every client for the same generic record pack.
Tax work can involve identification documents, tax returns, bank information, payroll records, property records and details of overseas assets or income.
We therefore distinguish between an initial enquiry and the secure exchange of records required once an engagement is being established.
Clients should provide enough information to explain the issue without unnecessarily sending sensitive records through a public contact form.
Relevant documents can be requested through the appropriate onboarding or document-sharing process.
Where information is required from another accountant or adviser, the appropriate client authority should be in place.
HMRC correspondence should only be undertaken where representation forms part of the engagement and the necessary authority exists.
Where a client is dissatisfied with the service, the concern should be raised through the practice's complaints procedure so that the matter can be reviewed properly.
These pages explain how personal information is handled, the terms applying to use of the website and the routes available for complaints and accessibility support.
Professional standards are most useful when they translate into practical safeguards for the engagement rather than remaining abstract statements.
Professional practices need to establish who the client is before substantive work is undertaken. The precise information required depends on the client and engagement and is obtained through the onboarding process rather than through the public website form.
The answer depends on the issue and what evidence is reasonably available. Where a material figure or claim depends on information that cannot be supported, that limitation needs to be addressed rather than ignored.
The professional position should follow the facts and applicable tax rules rather than the outcome preferred by either the client or adviser. Where there is legitimate technical uncertainty, the available interpretations and assumptions can be explained.
Client information is treated as confidential professional information, subject to applicable legal and professional obligations. The Privacy Policy explains how personal information is handled in more detail.
Concerns should be raised through the practice's complaints procedure so they can be reviewed formally. The procedure explains the route for raising and escalating a complaint.
