This Content Was Last Updated on April 5, 2023 by Jessica Garbett
Our parent Whitefield Tax offers a Professional Fee Protection Scheme, which is a optional scheme to cover accountancy fees for tax enquiries and disputes.
Premiums for policy year 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 – including VAT
- £50 Individual Tax Payers including Sole Traders with turnover of less than £15k/year (not partnerships or companies), and landlords with rental income of less than £50k/year
- £130 Sole Traders with turnover over £15k, and Landlords with rental income over £50k (also directors and partners not covered under the Company/Partnership premium)
- £155 Companies, including Personal Service Companies, partnerships and LLPs – this includes personal cover for Partners/Directors provided any personal Self Employed income and Rental income is below £15k/year and £50k/year respectively
- These are unchanged from 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
Summary of Cover
Up to £125,000 of professional fees for tax enquiries and tax disputes, including VAT, PAYE and IR35. The full details of cover and exclusions is on Whitefield’s website
Do I need this cover?
Its difficult to answer that question. Professionally, we have an obligation to make you aware of the availability of Fee Protection (formerly known as Tax Enquiry Insurance)
For most limited companies, the cover is sensible, particularly if VAT registered, PAYE registered or both. VAT and PAYE disputes can become intractable quite easily.
For sole traders it is a matter of personal attitude to risk v cost.
How much does a typical tax enquiry cost fee wise? Well, as a firm over the years our fees have ranged between £500 +vat at the lowest to upward of £35,000 + vat, the latter being a complex serious civil tax fraud case, and the former a very simple case. For a solo yoga teacher, we would hope that both the incidence of disputes would be low, and fee ranges at the lower end of the scale.
The biggest risk for yoga businesses are probably:
- Inadequacy of cash income records and/or HMRC challenging their accuracy
- Disputes over expenses such as clothing and travel (areas of contention)
- VAT disputes, especially where there is a non standard business structure
Taking cover up
To make application as straight forward as possible, you can apply and pay by card via our website.
We are sorry, but we cannot accept payment by Cheque or Bank Transfer for this cover.
Please take time to read:
- The Terms and Conditions of Cover –Terms and Conditions of Cover
- The Full Specification for the Scheme – Whitefield Tax Professional Fee Protection Scheme
