Claims we handle
We act for individuals, directors, trustees and businesses whose accountant or tax agent failed to exercise reasonable skill and care.
- Incorrect tax advice leading to amended assessments, general interest charge and penalties
- Failure to lodge returns, BAS or ASIC documents on time, or at all
- Negligent advice on GST, CGT, Division 7A, payroll tax or the small business concessions
- Business structuring that ignored the tax or asset-protection consequences
- SMSF compliance failures, contribution cap breaches and non-arm's-length income
- Errors in financial statements or audit that misled directors, lenders or purchasers
- Negligent due diligence or valuations in a business sale or acquisition
What your losses might include
Recoverable loss is not limited to the fees you paid. Depending on the facts a claim can cover the additional tax you would never have incurred, ATO penalties and interest, the professional cost of remediating the position, and profits or opportunities lost as a direct result of the error.
Where quantification is complex we work with forensic accountants, so the figure put to the other side is defensible rather than optimistic.
How the process works
After a free assessment we obtain your file, review the engagement terms and identify precisely where the standard of care was missed. We then present the claim — breach, causation and loss — to the accountant and their professional indemnity insurer.
Registered tax agents are also subject to the Code of Professional Conduct administered by the Tax Practitioners Board, and members of CPA Australia, CA ANZ or the IPA face their own disciplinary processes. Those routes do not award your losses, but conduct findings can strengthen a claim.
Signs of accountant negligence
- An unexpected ATO bill, penalty or audit traced back to how your affairs were handled
- Lodgement deadlines missed without warning or explanation
- Advice that another accountant says was plainly wrong
- A structure that has locked in a tax outcome nobody explained to you
- Financial statements that misstated the position of a business you bought or sold