It may sometimes appear that advice given by your previous advisers may have been questionable or just plain wrong.  A common (but by no means the only) case is where you have, on your accountant's recommendation, bought into a tax avoidance scheme that you were assured was 'safe' or 'routine' but which turns out to have been anything but.  Where this occurs, the question of seeking redress from previous advisers may arise.

There are usually two aspects to consider in regard to a professional negligence claim. The first is whether the adviser has been negligent in a legal sense – did the advice fallen below the standards expected of a hypothetical ‘reasonably competent adviser’? The second is in quantifying the loss – what loss or damage have you suffered as a result of any negligence?

Just as important as establishing liability is the need to quantify your loss. Regardless of how negligent an adviser may have been, if you cannot demonstrate that the negligence has caused you to suffer loss, your claim will inevitably fail.

Normally, as far as tax is concerned, quantification of loss requires an objective assessment (backed up with detailed computations) which compares your actual financial position with that in which you would have been had you been given the appropriate advice. This may require consideration of the ‘counter-factual’ position over a number of past years and a projection of any ongoing losses in future years.