Accountant Negligence Claims

If Your Accountant Gave Negligent Tax, Financial, Or Business Advice Resulting In Financial Loss, Our Expert Professional Negligence Solicitors Can Help You Make A Claim. No Win, No Fee Legal Representation Available.

Accountants are qualified professionals regulated by professional bodies. Their work is very complex and primarily involves:

• Preparing the financial accounts and statements for businesses and individuals.
• Providing tax advice and preparing tax returns.
• Auditing businesses to confirm that financial accounts and statements accurately reflect the finances of a company, including valuing companies.

This work can be challenging. For example, the UK Tax Code runs to over 20,000 pages, covering rules, reliefs and exemptions that can help reduce a tax bill.

If mistakes are made, it can be very costly for a client. However, not all mistakes amount to accountancy negligence.

An accountant’s negligence is where the work falls below the standard reasonably expected of a competent accountant and causes a financial loss. There would be no claimable negligence if the mistake caused no loss – for example if an error in a tax return or financial accounts was later rectified.

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We handle various cases where clients have been let down by their accountant, resulting in a financial loss. The most common examples of negligence are:

1. TAX MISCALCULATIONS OR INCORRECT TAX SUBMISSIONS

A large part of an accountant’s work is providing tax advice and completing tax returns for individuals and businesses. Most people pay income tax through PAYE and don’t need an accountant. However, if you’re self-employed, are a business owner/director or have taxable income in addition to your salary (such as investment income or savings interests), you may need an accountant to prepare accounts, calculate tax due and submit tax returns.

Things can go wrong if:

• Income is incorrectly overstated, leading to a larger tax bill.
• Allowances are missed or miscalculated, resulting in too much tax being paid.
• Miscalculations of income, expenses and allowances lead to a lower tax bill than should have correctly been paid. If the mistake is rectified quickly, generally, there is no loss. But if HMRC discovers the mistake later, penalties and substantial interest may apply because your accountant underestimated your tax due.

2. FAILURE TO ADVISE ON TAX EXEMPTIONS AND RELIEFS

UK tax is complicated. The HMRC tax code runs to over 20,000 pages. There are thousands of exemptions and reliefs for individuals, the self-employed and businesses. Accountants are expected to know the main ones, and if a mistake leads to a client paying more tax than they should, they can be liable.

Key reliefs and exemptions include:

• Tax-free ISA allowance.
• Pension contribution annual allowance.
• Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) or Venture Capital Trusts (VCT) (where appropriate).

3. BUSINESS VALUATION ERRORS OR AUDIT FAILINGS

Accountants are often required to value businesses or shareholdings for purchasers, investors or existing shareholders. If valuations are done negligently or without proper information, this can lead to losses.

4. MISSED DEADLINES

There are strict time limits for filing personal and company tax returns and paying tax.

• Personal tax returns: 31 January (for the previous tax year)
• Corporation tax returns: 9 months after the company’s year-end.

A £100 penalty applies if a personal tax return is up to 28 days late. Further penalties and interest follow if returns or tax remain unpaid. If your accountant misses deadlines and this causes penalties and interest, they may be liable.

5. TAX AVOIDANCE SCHEMES

Tax avoidance means using allowances, reliefs and exemptions to lawfully reduce a tax bill. This differs from tax evasion, which refers to submitting false information intended to reduce a tax bill and which is illegal.

Some accountants have historically recommended convoluted schemes to lower tax bills. These often required HMRC approval, but after the General Anti-Abuse Rule in 2013, such schemes are now rare. If HMRC later deems the scheme unlawful, the client may face late payment penalties and interest. In such cases, there may be a claim against the accountant for negligent advice.

See if your case qualifies – Speak to a specialist today.

To be successful in a claim against an accountant, it is not enough that they just made a mistake. You must be able to prove negligence.

There are three key legal elements to establishing negligence:

• Duty of care: There must be a duty of care relationship. Under English Law, a paid accountant engaged by a client owes that client a duty of care. This means they must exercise the reasonable skill and care expected of a competent accountant in that field.
• Breach of duty: There must be a breach of that duty – a failure or error caused by not exercising reasonable skill and care in their work.
• Financial loss caused by the breach: There must be a financial loss to the client caused by that breach of duty. This causal link is important. Accountants can argue that, although they breached their duty, it did not cause a loss because the outcome would have been the same. For example, they filed a tax return late or with incorrect information, but it was soon corrected.

The burden of proof is on the person bringing the claim. The standard of proof is the balance of probabilities – is it more likely than not that the accountant failed to exercise reasonable skill and care, leading to the financial loss?

Many accountant negligence claims require an expert witness (often a forensic accountant) to review documents and give an opinion on whether the work was negligent. If they believe there was negligence, this can provide persuasive evidence for a successful settlement.

Where there is a factual dispute, it is usually addressed by contemporary documents and witness statements.

Not sure if you can prove negligence? Let’s talk it through – free advice.

• Step 1: FREE ELIGIBILITY ASSESSMENT (DAY 1)
  We will take your initial instructions, and the information will be passed to one of our partners. We will read and consider your paperwork, carefully check the law and facts relating to your claim and assess the merits of your case. If your case passes this initial eligibility assessment, then we will pass your case to one of our senior solicitors who will have years of experience with similar cases to yours.
• Step 2: FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION (WEEK 1)
  Free, no-obligation consultation with a specialist solicitor. Our solicitor will discuss your case with you and seek further instructions to give you a realistic view of your chances of success. We’ll explain your funding options, including the scenarios where your case might qualify for our No Win, No Fee Agreement.
• Step 3: EVIDENCE GATHERING & CASE BUILDING (WEEKS 1–4)
  We will help you gather all relevant documents, including contracts, communications, and financial records. Third-party expert opinions may be sought to support your claim (e.g. from accountants or financial specialists). We will begin to quantify your financial losses and build a clear, evidence-based case. If your case still passes our merits test, we will offer you our No Win, No Fee Agreement.
• Step 4: PRE-ACTION PROTOCOL (MONTHS 2-6)
  We follow the Pre-Action Protocol for Professional Negligence in order to keep your case on the right legal track. We will prepare and send a formal Letter of Claim to the negligent party. You’ll be informed of expected timelines; under the Protocol, the negligent party will have up to a maximum of 3 months and 3 weeks to provide a formal Letter of Response. We will explain your options to you at all times, keep you informed and explore early dispute resolution with the negligent party before taking further steps.
• Step 5: NEGOTIATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION (MONTHS 3-9)
  Our solicitors negotiate directly with the other party or their insurers to seek a fair settlement. We’ll consider mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) where appropriate. You’ll be supported and guided throughout the process, with full representation from our experienced solicitors.
• Ongoing Client Communication
  Throughout the entire process, you’ll receive regular updates, clear guidance, and fast responses to any queries. Your dedicated solicitor will be your main point of contact from day one to resolution.

Start Your Claim Now – Free Initial Assessment.

We understand that negligence victims have already lost money — so we offer a “No Win, No Fee” Agreement.

What This Means for You

• If we don’t win, you owe us nothing.
• If we succeed, our fees are based on a regulated percentage.
• No upfront costs.
• Full legal representation, if required.
• 14-day cooling-off period—change your mind anytime.

Speak to our friendly solicitors about your recovery options – No Win, No Fee!

Strict time limits apply for bringing accountant negligence claims, set by the Limitation Act 1977. If a claim cannot be settled and legal proceedings are needed, they must be commenced within 6 years of the negligent conduct complained about. This is the same time limit that applies to breach of contract claims, as engaging an accountant usually involves a contract for their services.

The law allows an exception where the claimant was unaware of the negligence at the time and that it had caused or would cause a later loss. For example, if an incorrect tax return was filed and was only later discovered by HMRC, with tax still owed and interest accruing. In such cases, the time limit for commencing court proceedings is:

• 3 years from becoming reasonably aware that financial loss arose from a negligent act, or
• 6 years from the negligent act, whichever is longer.

When negligence is only discovered later, there is also a 15-year longstop deadline – legal proceedings must begin within 15 years of the negligent act, no matter when it was discovered.

Given these various time limits, if you believe you have suffered as a result of negligent advice or work, it is important to seek legal advice as soon as possible to understand your options and deadlines.

Check if you’re within time to claim – Call for FREE guidance.

There is no upper limit for how much you can seek in an accountant’s negligence claim. The law allows you to claim full restitution – this means being put back in the financial position you would have been in but for the negligence.

You can claim for:

• Direct financial losses: These are losses directly caused by negligence. Examples include penalties and interest imposed by HMRC for a late tax return or payment or an incorrect tax return.
• Foreseeable consequential financial loss: This covers losses that were foreseeable as a consequence of the negligence. For instance, a loss of opportunity, such as loss of value or profits in a purchased business, as a result of a negligent business valuation.
• Interest and legal costs: You can claim for interest on losses as they arose up to being compensated, as well as legal costs you may incur in bringing a claim.

There is a general duty to mitigate losses – this means you must take reasonable steps to keep losses to a minimum where possible. Even if an ongoing loss was caused by negligence, you can’t let losses continue just to increase your claim if you could have reasonably reduced them. For example, if HMRC imposed penalties and interest, you are expected to settle those charges (if you can) rather than allow them to build up.

Find out how much compensation you could be owed – Speak to us today. 

Yes, you can. If your accountant owed you a duty of care and their negligent work or advice caused you financial loss, you can bring a claim. You must be able to prove the elements of negligence (see above). Accountants are required by law to have indemnity insurance to cover them for negligence, and generally, their insurer usually handles the claim.

You can report poor service or misconduct to an accountant’s professional body (e.g., ICAEW, ACCA and the Financial Reporting Council). If they gave investment advice, they may also be regulated by the FCA. These professional bodies generally can’t award full compensation for negligence. For this, you will likely need a solicitor to bring a negligence claim against the accountant’s insurers.

An exception: if negligence financial investment advice is involved, you may claim through the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) for your losses after first complaining to the accountant.

Yes, if this led to a financial loss (such as HMRC penalties or interest) due to their negligence. Please see above for the elements required to prove negligence. If the mistake was corrected before any loss arose, there is no claim.

Yes, you can. Whether the accountant was freelance, self-employed or a sole trader makes no difference. All qualified accountants who offer this service must have indemnity insurance to cover negligence claims.

Yes. You don’t need to still be a client of the accountant who did the negligent work. As long as you are within the relevant time limits described above, you can still pursue a negligence claim.

You’ll need evidence that the accountant’s work fell below the required standard and caused your loss. A solicitor will help gather this — often requesting documents from the accountant early in the process.

Most claims also involve an expert report from an experienced forensic accountant assessing whether the work was negligent. This expert opinion can be persuasive evidence. If there’s disagreement about what happened, the claim may also rely on contemporary documents and witness statements.

We offer a free, no-obligation consultation to help you understand your legal options. Our experienced team handles professional negligence claims across England and Wales and will provide honest, practical advice from the start.

• Call us on +44 808 1697 109 (Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm)
• Email: [email protected] – we respond to all enquiries on the same day.
• Serving clients across the UK.

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