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ReCap is not intended to compete with an accountant or replace an accountant’s role with the client. However, finding these fixed CAs requires various skills – surveying, quantity surveying and tax expertise – and we recognise that there is not always the time available for an accountant to carry out these tasks.
For example, in certain trades there can be as much as 30% of the value of the building which are fixed CAs. These are normally items of fixed plant such as hot water services and related plumbing, air conditioning and associated suspended ceilings, fire doors and other equipment required by fire safety legislation, security equipment and devices, lifts and some lift shafts, emergency lighting and specific electrical wiring, etc.
The current approach in this marketplace seems to be to contact the end-user client directly. This can create considerable difficulty for practitioners when they are presented by an outside consultancy with Capital Allowance computations to which the firm has had no input. Alternatively, the firm might be asked to undertake work that the client believes will be covered by the consultancy’s contingency fee, which is, in fact, unlikely to be the case.
Indeed, we have received feedback from a number of our accountancy clients with regard to certain organisations who have been approaching clients directly offering a similar service. Naturally, our accountancy clients have been concerned that these organisations could undermine the practice's relationship with clients. We are, therefore, offering ReCap through our accountancy practices.
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What are the services?
Abbey Tax’s approach is designed to be inclusive. Firstly, we would like the concept to be introduced to the client by the practice, thus making ReCap a pro-active service that a firm can include as part of its “value-added offerings”. Secondly, ReCap is designed to provide an income stream to the firm, which is hoped will cover the costs of any work the practice will undertake. And because ReCap is undertaken on a contingency basis, your firm may recover considerably more than the time costs incurred.
Inevitably, there can be quite a lot of information that is required in order to evaluate what CAs have been claimed in the past before a survey of the property can be undertaken. We therefore ask the firm to provide us with past accounts, tax and CA computations and fixed assets registers. In addition, we will need detailed information about the property; for example, when was it purchased, how much for, whether it was subject to a Section 198 election, what improvements have been undertaken and when. Clearly, this information will generally be held by the client so we may have to contact the client directly, but we will only do this with the approval of our accountancy client.
Once we have established that a CA claim might be possible, we will ask your client to sign an engagement letter and pay a deposit of £750 (+ VAT) which is fully refundable in the event that we are not able to uncover any fixed CAs. We will then survey the premises and get a Quantity Surveyor to sign off the report which we will include within the bundle of documents that we submit to HMRC.
Crucially, our After Care support is the key to the success of ReCap. We will supply you with the revised CA pool and CA computations together with a pro forma Section 198 election. It is es
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