My mate down the pub says…

For years, clients told us about advice their ‘mate down the pub’ had given them about accounting and how they could potentially save thousands of pounds in tax. Shared stories and so-called tips, usually over a drink, from someone who confidently claims they can solve all your accounting worries with a bit of unsolicited and often ill-informed advice.

Fast forward to today and, while the pub conversations still happen, the advice has largely moved online. Now it’s social media reels promising to show you how to slash your tax bill. Snappy captions that hook us in, with claims such as ‘how to get your company to pay for your personal trips abroad” or ‘HMRC lets you employ your children’.

Misleading advice

While we understand the marketing appeal of these punchy headlines, they’re not only highly misleading but they can also be dangerous if people try to apply them to their own accounts. If we’re not careful, this misleading information we see online can start to replace the truth, putting thousands of businesses at risk.

The reality is that with social media, ChatGPT and an abundance of resources available online, information about tax and accounts has never been more accessible. While this is great for helping business owners looking for information, these small and generic snippets can lead to misleading advice if you don’t understand the context behind it. 

For example, putting household bills through the company if the business is based at home. While you can often claim a proportion of some costs if you work from home, you can’t claim the whole lot. An accountant can share more guidance around this and explain what is and what isn’t acceptable. 

The cost of getting it wrong

Small businesses are being squeezed right now and for many, finding the finances to cover an accountant can be a stretch. Those relying on free advice they see on social media to piece together their tax returns could be leaving themselves exposed. If it goes wrong, HMRC isn’t going to accept ‘my mate down the pub told me I could do it’ or ‘I saw a reel on social media’ as an excuse. Any tax discrepancy found if you get it wrong will need to be repaid if HMRC uncovers it later, often along with additional penalties and complications.

Not getting proper advice from an accountant can lead to:

• Wrongful deductions
• HMRC enquiries to scrutinise your tax returns more closely
• Penalties from HMRC if they identify incorrect or ‘dodgy’ expenses
• Issues arising from regulation changes. What was correct five years ago may no longer apply

Advice is an investment, not an expense

For many new business owners, professional advice can feel like an expense rather than an investment. But in reality, the return doesn’t just come with someone else taking care of your accounts, it comes in the form of accuracy, compliance and peace of mind. 

As accountants, we can explain that yes, certain expenses might be allowable, but only if it’s wholly and exclusively for business use or appropriately adjusted for personal use. Every business is different; there is no one size fits all approach and that’s why tailored advice matters.

With more business owners forming tax opinions based on social media content, our role as a trusted adviser in explaining the rules clearly and accurately is more important than ever. We’re no longer just correcting ‘my mate down the pub’, we’re now competing with slick, bite-sized online videos. That means that our role of providing clarity, context and calm in a world where a single reel can lead to a big misunderstanding has never been more crucial.

To help bust some of these myths, we’re launching our very own ‘My mate down the pub…’ series on our social media channels. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be explaining why your mate down the pub isn’t quite telling you the full story, and why it pays to get proper advice from a qualified accountant before acting.

Advice from well-intentioned friends might be free, but if it’s wrong, it can be expensive in the long run. A good accountant offers peace of mind, keeps you compliant, and lets you focus on running your business without the risk of costly mistakes.