Mandatory membership of professional bodies and higher standards will protect people from poor tax practitioners, a senior tax adviser has said.
Simon Rothenberg, partner at national tax advisory firm Blick Rothenberg, said the measures announced as part of yesterday's Budget package (March 6) could be seen as stringent but welcomed the move to higher professionalism overall.
Rothenberg said: "Financial advisers have had to do this, and they have to be registered to receive a statement of professional standing each year from an FCA-accredited body.
"I don't see why tax advisers shouldn't have that same push for higher professional standards.
"It should lead to better outcomes and may even removed the lower-end of the tax advice market where unqualified practitioners have been doing things they should not."
He added: "A lot of unlicensed practitioners are doing things they should not, so I think the move to make membership of our accrediting bodies mandatory will protect the taxpayer."
It's important to maintain standards.Simon RothenbergCommenting on FT Adviser's breaking story yesterday that the Treasury will make all tax advisers register with HMRC to talk on behalf of the client, Rothenberg said: "I don't think this will make a big difference overall, but it will be a change and mean more compliance for tax advisers to make sure they are doing the right thing.
"However, I don't know how HMRC will ensure this is being done - anyone can go to a high street tax office and you don't necessarily know if everyone there is registered or even qualified.
"It's strange this has happened now, though - a colleague was at a conference last week where HMRC said there was no intention to do this, and now the Treasury is opening a consultation proposing that this will happen."
That said, he commented most tax offices would not see this as a problem, but warned it could lead to higher fees at some tax offices who do not have the resources to make sure all the staff are put through the necessary training and are in compliance with whatever the new rules will be.
As with financial advisers, tax advisers have to do a relevant amount of CPD a year.
According to Rothenberg, Blick Rothenberg's team do approximately 50 hours each a year as a minimum.
Rothenberg added: "It's important to maintain standards, and if you are registered with an accrediting institute, you should also have the right level of indemnity cover.
"A number of smaller practices might not have the right amount of professional indemnity, which could be a problem if they have a big claim coming that they cannot afford to pay, or their insurance will not pay out on."
He said this was also something that needed to be looked at.
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
