Fee Protection Service

Latest statistics

Latest statistics show that tax compliance investigations by HMRC increased 36% in the fourth quarter of 2021 with a total of 102,000 businesses investigated versus 75,000 in 2020.

If you’re a HWB client, we strongly advise you to subscribe to our service.

What is fee protection?

Out tax investigation service offers fee protection against professional costs that arise from having a tax investigation by HMRC.

With accountancy bills for an HMRC investigation easily reaching thousands of pounds, having fee protection in place gives you the reassurance that your accountant’s costs in dealing with the investigation will be covered.

Why is this an issue for businesses?

You may think that a tax investigation by HMRC is nothing to worry about, particularly if you’re confident your accounts are in order.

While this may be the case, there would still be the matter of your accountant’s bill to settle at the end of the enquiry period.

Many HMRC investigations take months to see through to completion, and even if you’re found to owe nothing at the end, you’ll still need to reimburse your accountant for their time.

While no business is immune from being randomly selected for a tax inspection, our fee protection service offers you the financial security of knowing your accountancy fees will be covered in the event your business is investigated by HMRC.

What HWB’s fee protection service covers

Under a fee protection service with us, your business will be covered for accountancy fees as a result of a tax compliance investigation, up to £100,000.

When you subscribe to our service, if you are investigated, we can make a claim against our insurance policy against our fees incurred (up to £100,000 per claim) when we defend you. Taking out a subscription to our service means that our fees are one less thing for you to worry about if an investigation were to arise.

Some examples of the types of investigations included within our fee protection service include:

• Corporation tax returns

• Partnership tax returns

• Sole trader tax returns

• Personal tax returns

In these cases, your accountancy fees are covered irrespective of whether the investigation is a full or aspect enquiry.

Furthermore, our fee protection service also covers any accountancy fees you accrue for disputes in relation to:

• VAT returns

• Employer compliance (PAYE, P11D and NIC)

• IR35

• Code of practice 8 enquiries

• Inheritance tax enquiries

• Compliance challenges regarding PAYE regulations

• Appeals to VAT or duty tribunals

How it works

If your business is selected for investigation and we represent you, we’ll reclaim any costs we incur in dealing with your enquiry directly from our fee protection partner. Our Service is backed by an insurance policy under which we can claim the costs of defending you in tax enquiries.

Together with managing all aspects of your investigation with HMRC, we’ll also take responsibility for recouping our costs directly, instead of billing you for our services.

So long as everything is accepted under the policy terms and the claim is less than £100,000, you won’t have to pay a penny. In fact, appointing us to manage your investigations means you’ll only ever be liable for any unpaid taxes you owe HMRC, plus any fees that are either in excess of or not recoverable under the terms of your policy.

Benefits of our fee protection service

Peace of mind

With a service in place you won’t have to waste precious time and energy worrying if your accounts might be selected for a tax investigation.

Cost savings

With accountancy fees for tax investigations ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of pounds, tax investigation insurance gives you the certainty your accountant’s fees will be covered.

Time savings

Tax investigations typically take months to conclude, taking you away from activity that turns a profit. With a service in place all the admin of dealing with your investigation will fall to your accountant so you can carry on with business as usual.

Am I likely to be investigated by HMRC?

If you file your accounts with HMRC there’s always a risk you’ll be singled out for an investigation. Given the huge financial cost of the UK Government’s coronavirus support schemes, it is likely that HMRC will have an even greater focus on its tax receipts.

Latest statistics show that HMRC has been launching over 1000 new tax investigations per day in the UK, up from 9% on the previous year, so if anything the likelihood that you’ll be investigated is now higher than ever and increasing every year.

Is anything not covered under the policy?

Yes. This service only pays out for accountancy fees incurred as a result of HMRC investigations – and only up to a maximum limit (as specified in your policy).
Should your bill come in at more than your level of cover, you will have to make up the shortfall. Likewise, the policy doesn’t cover you for routine tax matters your accountant undertakes on your behalf, such as filing your end-of-year accounts.

It will not cover you if the investigation into your business by HMRC began before you took out the insurance, nor does it cover the costs of any additional tax bills you may receive from HMRC as a result of the investigation.