Many enterprises prefer to solve some of their issues by contacting third-party companies. This practice is called the transfer of business processes to a special organization that acts as an outsourcer. Most often they ask for help in the accounting field, this is especially true for small companies that can not keep their staff of accountants; the same applies to lawyers and tax consultants.
There is a special situation with the latter, in spite of a rather serious task, in Russia the legal framework regarding the work of tax consultants remains unworked, now there are no standards, however, developments are ongoing in this direction and there is some progress. But market requirements are far ahead of government actions, the need for tax consultants arises not only in small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, but also in large organizations. Someone decides to hire such a specialist, but this is often disadvantageous, so the offer of outsourcing in this area is a very promising type of business.
Currently, a rare tax consultant works precisely in the profession, which is so prescribed in the work book. Usually these are lawyers or lawyers without a lawyer license who are knowledgeable in tax matters and earn a living from it. In any large city you can find more than one organization that deals with tax consulting, but usually these are companies that occupy several areas at once, that is, they are multidisciplinary. That is, these are law firms for which tax consulting is only one area of activity, usually not even the main one. There are also private specialists (like the same lawyers), and any lawyer is ready to deal with tax issues at a normal price. There is a proposal on the market, but it is not always possible to find an office that has chosen consulting in this area as the main (and only) direction of its activity, therefore it is not always necessary to talk about a really high-quality and comprehensive solution to the issue. A company that needs the support of a tax consultant may well be faced with a situation where a specialist’s question is “non-core”.
Of course, the beginner has chances to conquer his part of the market, but you just need to immediately answer the questions: what is the best offer than competitors? what is the price of their services and why? How well do competitors do their job? how big is the risk that a new office will appear that offers more favorable conditions, and if it does, then how to deal with it? In other words, a SWOT analysis to help.
There are a lot of subtleties in this area, sorting out all of them is a rather difficult task, and you need to immediately decide whether it makes sense to open an entire office that works only in the field of tax consulting, because consumers may not be interested in tax consulting, but in legal assistance in general (which includes de facto tax advice, if we analyze the practice of many specialists). A person who is himself a specialist in tax consulting and wants to make money on this can easily get a job in a law agency, and if you want to work exclusively "for yourself", then become a private practitioner with a small office. There are difficulties in any undertaking, its advantages and disadvantages are not always obvious, so before becoming an entrepreneur, you need to evaluate the market in which you have to work. Immediately, at this stage, the format of his work is chosen.
Perhaps it is pointless in this article to describe the process of registering a business entity, a person who wants to open a tax consulting office clearly knows more than a theoretical journalist in this matter. However, there are entrepreneurs who are not going to engage in tax advice on their own, that is, they prefer to open a company and hire specialists in it, so that they, in turn, will carry out this work. This applies to those people who themselves do not have the appropriate education and simply want to open their own business.
If there is no desire to work as an individual entrepreneur, then it is better to choose the form of a limited liability company, in this case a simplified taxation system will be available, and as the name implies, tax reporting on it is much simpler, but the main thing is the amount of transfers in favor of the state, which accounts for 6% of revenue or 15% of operating profit. More details and advice on the type of reporting to choose can be obtained from your own employees, because this issue is being decided depending on the format of work. It should also be noted that such activities fall under the definition (OKPD 2) 69.2 Services in the field of accounting; on financial audit; on tax advice.
As for obtaining a special license, then certificates (and, of course, diplomas or other documents on higher education) from employees that they receive independently will be required. But compulsory licensing for a company that deals with tax consulting and legal activities in general is not currently required. It has already been noted above that some developments are underway in this matter, and we can expect that even in the near future the legislation will change and we will have to legitimize our activities. However, lawyers will learn about this first.
An important point in the organization of your enterprise is the arrangement of the office. In order for the tax consulting office to have enough customers, you need to be located in the central and business districts of the city. Considering that the employees will spend a lot of time at the client’s enterprise, it’s easier to go to a certain point of the city than to settle in an office on the outskirts and wait for customers to come to it. Initial negotiations are conducted only in business districts, the company located here already has an important advantage, at least due to the fact that it pays for the premises at a slightly higher rental rate, which means (in the minds of the consumer) it is a serious office. However, an office that is too large is not required, the work is really mostly office - to sort out papers, make appointments, negotiate, tax consultants will often be on the move, so too much work space is an unnecessary waste.
The rental price depends on many factors - the reputation of the business center, the location in the city (and the city itself), the initial state of the office (and its size, of course), and so on and so forth. The cost of renting for 30-40 m2 starts with about 25-30 thousand rubles, but this is in small cities and not in a very "good" place, in cities of federal significance, even for a modest room in all senses, it will almost certainly have to be given several times more. Here, real estate agents come to the rescue if the entrepreneur himself does not refuse to resolve his issues by outsiders.
Next, you need to allocate a lot of funds directly to office equipment. Nothing is especially needed here, the working atmosphere should reign in the room, in other words, it is an ordinary office, only bright, friendly, strict and minimalistic, but tastefully furnished. If there are any letters, certificates, awards and other “semi-official” papers, they can be hung in the negotiation room or above the head of the head (when there is no negotiation room), it has a very good effect on clients, trust grows, loyalty to the company increases, confidence in your choice grows stronger with each such piece of paper. Of the rest, more important - wall decoration, arrangement of technical rooms, because lavatories are needed, the purchase of computers and peripheral equipment, furniture. If desired, 100 thousand rubles can be met, if you do not buy each employee a leather chair and Parker handles. Although sometimes it’s worthwhile to do this if the office expects to work specifically with large enterprises that pay a lot of attention to the “wealth” of the partner.
Then begins the search for customers directly. You must provide information about yourself in the media, newspapers, magazines, local radio and television, create your own website, which will contain all the information about the company (do not forget to post scans of your certificates and awards), on the services provided, on the merits of each tax consultant (for the merits of the company itself is not yet available), the cost and terms for which this or that operation is performed.
Your site is a very important decision, it will attract a very large number of customers, but when working with a large number of competitors, it can be difficult to stay on the first lines in search engines. But this is not a problem, if there is money, SEO optimization studios are enough today to find the most suitable and give them the task of putting themselves in the top of the search. But yes, the service is not free, even sometimes very expensive, the cost of creating and promoting a site can reach up to 100 thousand rubles, since this amount stretches for the first few months of work.
You can start promoting yourself also through social networks, but the contingent there is clearly not more interested in tax advice, because the whole concept of taxes from ordinary people boils down to “13 percent of my hard-earned money is taken away from me every month”. Basically, tax consultants in Russia work directly with enterprises, and large organizations with great reporting and a tireless desire to save some money on taxes. Given that not every entrepreneur knows what depreciation is and what it can be considered, quite legally by the way, in several ways, the consultants will have a lot of work, and the result is immediately visible. However, this is nevertheless closer to bookkeeping; people who are very illiterate in large organizations are not kept.
A promising direction, perhaps, is individual entrepreneurs, because they are people who just want to "try their own." They don’t know what and how to do it better. Then lawyers, tax consultants, accountants come to their aid. Thus, a start-up company can earn a name by working with inexperienced entrepreneurs, but good profits will come from prosperous corporations, which themselves have come to the point that it is cheaper to maintain tax accounting for outsourcing than to keep your own staff of tax consultants. Medium-sized enterprises usually try to cope on their own, shifting tax accounting issues to accountants, financiers, and a manager.
It should also be noted that in Europe, the services of a tax consultant are also in demand by private individuals, because there are more taxes and people are used to counting their money, in Russia, as long as it comes down to paying interest on salaries, no one will even think of spending extra money to a tax consultant. Private individuals apply to such an office only in case of really difficult issues - buying and selling real estate, inheritance, donation, transactions for large amounts, lottery winnings, but even then usually all issues are resolved independently or through indirect specialists, for example, real estate agents. That is, in this direction it is unlikely to be able to earn.
The basis of the office is competent and experienced specialists. Some lawyers take special courses, following which they are given a certificate and, in theory, comprehensive knowledge of taxes. Therefore, it is good to find workers who, in addition to theory, have spent a lot of time on practice, experience plays a very important role. Tax consultants will take a significant part of the transaction, the exact interest is difficult to say - how to negotiate. You can engage in the cultivation of specialists, attracting young promising personnel as assistants to already experienced tax consultants. The number of such employees in the state is determined depending on the planned volume of work, one consultant can conduct business of several enterprises at the same time, but depending on the complexity of the task, someone alone may have to concentrate only on working with one organization. Next, you should hire an employee on organizational and administrative issues, however, the entrepreneur himself can do this, especially at first. It is better to outsource the rest of the business processes, although accountants are needed in this direction, but with such a staff, these issues can be resolved on their own. Security of the office will almost certainly be provided by the business center itself, where the work takes place, and you won’t have to worry about this issue.
The tax advisory office offers a fairly wide range of services, but everything can be divided into long-term services and one-time issues. Large enterprises are interested in a contract for a long time, they need an integrated approach, it is important for them that the issue of taxes be resolved by the outsourcer promptly, with the highest quality and without undue interference in the work of the company itself. That is, just to solve problems for them. Private individuals and small enterprises often seek help either once or periodically, and there is no need to sign a contract here. In general, the company operates in the following areas:
Ongoing counseling . This is just the resolution of general issues, the selection of the optimal tax system, the preparation of documentation, finding ways to save (legal) and the like procedures that are necessary for each and every company.
Consultations on tax planning and optimization . It refers only to long-term contracts, that is, finding ways to develop a company in this direction, for example, transferring individual employees to a company branch to reduce costs and maintain a simplified tax system; This is a special case, in general there can be a lot of options.
Legal examination of business transactions . In other words, how legitimate is the organization’s activities and what else can be done within the framework of the law. And if there is any doubt, then how to get around these laws and present everything in a favorable light. Legally, this must not be forgotten.
Development of optimal schemes of interaction with foreign partners . Also international tax planning. In general, international relations are very complex processes, and not only tax consultants are involved here, but also lawyers, economists, financiers, customs brokers and a large number of specialists. The company must either keep such employees on staff or have agreements with other outsourcers. In an extreme case, to be able to recommend to the client here or another company that deals with certain non-tax issues.
Legal support in tax disputes with state regulatory authorities . This is closer to the lawyers and lawyers themselves. Moreover, this area is very important, because often inspectors come to the company, who very carefully check the activities of the company. If they could find something, the client must be sure that the partner company will fully help him in this matter. This is generally a legal field, but these requirements are also imposed on tax consultants.
The tax consulting office is a very promising area of its own business, especially if the entrepreneur himself has the appropriate education. This sphere is generally only developing in Russia so far, therefore there are many opportunities for its growth.
Matthias Laudanum
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08/18/2019