Bringing a breath of fresh air to a stodgy subject

Fixed Fees from £85

  • Hello and welcome to our web site. I’m John Cowan: a qualified tax adviser and HMRC authorised tax return agent. I am and my colleagues are here to help you with your tax returns or any other day to day difficulties you may have with personal tax. We have a high reputation for integrity and efficiency and have helped numerous people from all walks of life over many years.

  • I've worked in personal tax for a very long time (I was a senior Inland Revenue officer for many years) and know the tax system like the back of my hand. You can be absolutely certain that I am on your side in trying to keep your tax bill as low as possible whilst making sure you comply with all the very complicated rules.

  • The cost of our service to you is fixed and agreed in advance. Unlike accountancy firms we don’t charge by the minute for things like talking to you on the phone or preparing your bill. You will be charged the fixed fee agreed at the beginning and that’s it. With us you never end up getting a nasty surprise! Our fees for preparing self-assessment tax returns start from as low as £50.

  • We provide a very friendly, approachable, “can do” service. Nothing you ask us to do will be too much trouble for us. You can contact me at more or less any time and I guarantee you will always get a friendly, helpful response.

  • You should recognize that we are personal taxation specialists. We are not general purpose accountants and we do not prepare accounts for shops, manufacturers, limited companies etc But if you work on a self-employed basis we can and will prepare for you profit and loss figures acceptable to the tax authorities.



Tax Advice In Solihull & Birmingham

Have you had a surprise tax demand? Maybe you are buy-to-let landlord and HMRC have sent you a tax bill you weren't expecting? Small business owner or sole trader looking to reduce your tax bill? We can help.

We are a small friendly firm of Solihull tax advisers. We offer advice to individuals, sole traders, buy-to-let landlords and small businesses in the West Midlands, Birmingham and Solihull. We work on a fixed fee basis, starting from £50 - we will always let you know how much our advice will cost before starting any work. Often we can save you more in tax than it costs to use us!

Use this form to contact us and we'll get back to you quickly regarding your tax problem. Don't panic, we're here to help!


So why should you use Taxmates to help with your tax situation?

  • Taxmates specialises in individual's personal tax. At Taxmates you will be warmly welcomed whatever the size or nature of your tax problem.
  • John Cowan has worked in tax for a very long time and knows the system like the back of his hand – He has probably seen your situation many times before.
  • John Cowan will be dealing with every aspect of your work. Unlike big firms he does not hand over your work to a student who’s learning the subject whilst charging the earth for doing that!
  • Taxmates charges a fixed fee – you will not be charged extra for things like writing a letter, preparing your bill or doing bits of additional work. You can ring us at any time and you will not be charged for talking to us. (unlike other tax professionals who record and charge for every minute of time they have anything to do with you!).
  • Taxmates can be contacted at more or less any time – we want to be always there to help you because you as our client are precious to us!
  • Taxmates are taxation specialists (unlike accountants geared to business accountancy whose tax knowledge can be weak because they are general jack of all financial trades). But Taxmates can and does prepare profit and loss figures acceptable to the tax authorities for self-employed people.
  • John Cowan is a bit of a computer geek! And has been using personal computers since the Enigma code breaking machine was invented! (well maybe not that long but certainly since the dawn of personal computers in the early 1980's). He has been involved over many years in the development of tax computer software. That means that Taxmates is a pretty efficient and high tech operation. And the benefits are passed on to you in very low fees!

Please don’t think you can sort your tax situation out by getting free and unbiased help from the tax authorities! You'd be living in cloud cuckoo land if you thought that!  You would find that's almost impossible and the tax office dealing with your account is probably at the other end of the country. Try ringing the so called "help" desk some time. But make sure you have a lot of time to spare, a flask of coffee and some sandwiches!

And it's scheduled to get worse!

As part of a recent Spending Review, HMRC will reduce resource spending by 15% and capital spending by 44% over four years, with £900 million of those savings being recycled to transform HMRC’s work against avoidance, evasion and criminal attack. The Department is expected to reduce its administration costs by a third.

The President of the Association of Revenue and Customs, representing senior HMRC officials, says this means that at least 13,000 jobs will go and, taking account of recent reductions, HMRC in terms of personnel will be ‘around half the size it was a few years ago’. However, the Government has said that through the use of new technology and increases in staff productivity, HMRC will increase the tax take from its compliance activities from £7.5 billion to £12 billion.

That implies poor and very impersonal service and a brutal approach if you accidentally or deliberately break the rules!

So you really do need TAXMATES!

To find out more simply refer to our contact details and get in touch. You’ll be very glad you did!

We're looking forward to talking to you, meeting you and working for you!