Filkin condemns tax agents and collectors

Taxpayers’ agents are guilty of needlessly whipping up ‘aggro’ with the Inland Revenue and blaming the government department for their faults, claims the adjudicator Elizabeth Filkin.

Commenting on her third annual report, Filkin warned that several clients are grossly overcharged by accountants, many of whom continue to provide bad advice. She called on the accountancy profession to eliminate rogue members by ‘whatever means necessary’.

Filkin’s report highlights a number of cases where agents acted ‘unco-operatively and obstructively’, prolonging an investigation in order to bump up their fees. Other cases of agents overlooking time limits were also found.

Filkin told Accountancy Age: ‘It’s a consumer issue which the many thousands of reputable agents should take very seriously. The accountancy profession needs to define the size of the problem and work out how to eliminate it.’

The adjudicator’s report this year assessed the performance of Customs & Excise, the Revenue and the Contributions Agency. All require major improvement with 3,267 complaints made last year, she said.

While Filkin noted some improvements she remained concerned by examples of ‘incompetence, insensitivity and indifference’. She said that both Customs and the Contributions Agency had conducted a lot of ‘poor’ work, particularly over VAT in Customs’ case.

‘I see the same issues recurring,’ Filkin added. ‘I want to see more evidence of proper consideration of where tax payers are coming from, so that I am sure that an official has understood their position more fully.

‘When things go wrong, the resulting complaint must be well-handled.

I want it to be picked up quickly and accurately and with an apology if necessary.’