In accountancy firms, tax teams can easily give away advice for free, often with no recognition, to clients of the wider firm.
This can cause friction and be difficult to manage.
But this episode is here to help.
Host Jack Bonehill and David Maslen, Head of Tax at Old Mill, discuss the issue, covering:
- Why we can easily end up giving tax advice away for free
- What they’ve found works in improving the situation
- Other ways to get recognition when you’re unable to charge for your valuable tax advice
A great listen if you work in an accountancy firm and have ever encountered this situation — and want to reduce issues like this going forward.
Listen here:
Jack Bonehill, Your Podcast Host
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
Email: jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
Guest – David Maslen, Head of Tax at Old Mill
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-maslen-28676424
Email: david.maslen@om.uk
Timings
- [00:01:45] Intro to David
- [00:05:04] Introducing the topic for the episode (how to charge firm’s clients for tax advice/do for free expectation)
- [00:07:07] What David thinks causes/underpins the “billing for tax work issues” in accountancy firms
- [00:09:47] Wanting to help and not wanting to talk about fees
- [00:13:21] Potential solution: clarify what is and isn’t covered by annual fees or fees for non tax work
- [00:14:53] The impact of “who holds the client relationship”
- [00:16:24] Non-tax specialists quoting for the tax work
- [00:17:06] Pushback on fees is more from colleagues than the client
- [00:19:35] How Jack tries to solve the problem
- [00:22:36] Relationships with your colleagues and how that helps
- [00:27:01] Colleagues trusting you and feeling reassured
- [00:31:23] Jack’s summary of David’s way of dealing with the issue and Jack’s own tip
- [00:31:45] How a tax team framework could help
- [00:34:00] The value of a tax team to a firm outside of billing/fees
- [00:38:01] How David ensures recognition where tax can’t bill for the work
- [00:43:11] David’s final advice on the challenge
The Tax Lab
If you want to improve your skills and how you handle situations in your tax role, then you might want to sign up for The Tax Lab.
The Tax Lab is a series of free webinars where I take real scenarios we face as tax professionals, work through them live, and share practical advice you can actually use in your role.
Recent sessions have covered improving advisory skills, and the next few will focus on tax research — by which I mean finding answers to tax questions using resources like guidance and legislation.
Go to thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/thetaxlab, to sign up and access recordings of previous sessions.