One-person practice · locum cover · run-off
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a self-employed tax adviser
In a one-person practice nobody is looking over your shoulder. If you are out of action during the filing season, deadlines expire without anyone noticing, and that is exactly where a claim begins.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een zelfstandige belastingadviseur.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
As a self-employed tax adviser you often serve owner-directors and small businesses with questions that turn out to be large: the customary salary rule, a reinvestment reserve falling free, a gift within a business succession, the consequences of a divorce for the business, or whether someone qualifies as an entrepreneur for income tax. A wrong assessment costs your client money, not health or property. That pure financial loss is exactly what professional indemnity insurance covers; public and employers' liability insurance does not. For the structure of the product, see the hub page on the BAV.
The characteristic risk of a one-person practice is not complexity but continuity. There is no colleague to take over your diary when you are ill, no second pair of eyes on a notice of objection, no back-up during the peak weeks. Insurers ask about this when you apply. A written cover arrangement with a fellow firm and deadline monitoring that does not live only in your head reduce both the chance of a mistake and the argument afterwards. For your own income during long-term incapacity, disability insurance is the route to take. The BAV does nothing there.
Look critically at the business activity on your policy schedule. Many self-employed advisers also handle the bookkeeping, the payroll returns or the compilation of annual accounts alongside tax advice. If it says only 'tax adviser', a claim about the payroll can fall outside the cover. If you make payments for clients or hold login details, declare that expressly; work in which you have access to other people's money is assessed separately by insurers and is sometimes excluded.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four points that weigh more heavily in a one-person practice than the size of the sum insured.
Your private assets are at stake
If you work as a sole trader or a general partnership, there is no separation between business and private assets: a claim reaches your own possessions. Even in a private limited company you can be held personally liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code if you are open to a sufficiently serious personal reproach. That makes the choice of the sum insured a personal judgement rather than an accounting one.
Work through another firm
If you are hired by an accountancy or advisory firm, the contract determines who receives the claim. Some firms indemnify you, while others seek recovery from you and ask for evidence of insurance. Note the requirement on the sum insured and whether the cover continues after the collaboration ends. Your own your own policy is the only one you manage yourself.
Run-off cover when stopping or retiring
The BAV is claims made: the moment of notification is decisive, not the moment of the advice. Tax claims come late, because an assessment or additional assessment can take years. If you close your practice, arrange run-off cover before you cancel. Afterwards it is virtually unobtainable, and without run-off cover you stand alone.
Three items you bear yourself
You bear the following yourself: tax fines and penalty payments, because a penalty is not compensation for damage; intent and wilful recklessness under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code, including deliberately untenable structures; and known circumstances at inception of the policy. If you conceal a current dispute when you apply, the insurer can rely on Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover of the practice: the basis for the rate for an adviser without staff
- Composition of your client base: owner-directors and structuring work weigh differently from private tax returns
- Secondary activities: bookkeeping, payroll processing or compilation work must appear in the insured capacity
- Sum insured required: per claim and per insurance year, partly determined by your largest file
- Retroactive date: how far back advice falls within the cover
- Professional body and continuing education: membership and further training count in underwriting
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| An objection deadline expires while you are at home ill for three weeks | No | Yes |
| On your advice your client buys business premises privately and thereby misses the deduction | No | Yes |
| Your client's former partner holds you liable for the tax consequences of the divorce, although he was never your client | No | Provided that |
| A client's original records are lost at your office through a leak | Provided that | No |
| A client trips over an extension lead in your office | Yes | No |
| The turnover you lose because two clients move on after the mistake | No | No |
A third party who relied on your document is not a client, but can still hold you liable; whether that is covered is set out in the policy.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
My client received an additional assessment. Is that insured loss?
Only the part he has lost as a result of your mistake. Tax he owed in any event is not a loss. It was always due to the tax authorities. What can be a loss: the relief or deduction missed, the tax interest and the cost of the proceedings needed to put things right. Fines remain outside the cover.
I have no staff. Why does the insurer ask about locum cover?
Because the biggest mistake in a one-person practice is the practice grinding to a halt. If you are ill or have an accident, nobody checks your deadlines. Insurers therefore ask whether there is a colleague who can take over your files and whether your deadline monitoring is recorded outside your head. A written cover arrangement is a plus in underwriting.
Am I covered when I log in to the Belastingdienst for a client?
Filing as an authorised representative is part of normal work and is usually included, provided it fits your insured capacity. Having access to a client's bank account or making payments is another matter: that touches on money flows and is often excluded. Declare it when you apply and record your authorisations in writing.
Do I also need legal expenses insurance?
The BAV pays for the defence against a client's claim and the compensation itself. It is not cover for your own disputes, such as an unpaid invoice, an argument with your landlord or a dispute with the tax authorities about your own position. For that there is legal expenses insurance for self-employed professionals.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering boekhouder zzp
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an accountancy practice without employees
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering accountant zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering belastingadviesbureau
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering administratiekantoor mkb
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering boekhoudkantoor
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