Green flags
Eight practices that make an engagement easier to understand and a claim easier to defend. Any adviser can adopt them, and none of them guarantees a good adviser.
These are practices any adviser can adopt. They are not a description or endorsement of any firm.
A green flag is a practice that makes an engagement clearer and a claim easier to defend. Any adviser can adopt these practices. A green flag is not an endorsement of anyone and it does not guarantee a good adviser; it is one thing to look for, and to check.
Each page says why the practice matters, how to check for it, and which red flag it answers. The matching question on the questions to ask list is linked from each one.
- A fee you can work out yourselfIf you can take the engagement letter and your own figures and arrive at the fee, you can compare the proposal with any other and you know what a good year will cost.Red flagUncapped success fees
- They talk to the people who did the workA technical case written after talking to your engineers describes work they recognise. That is the case a review will test, and the one your people can defend.Red flagNo one speaks to your engineers
- You see the whole claim before filingThe claim is yours. An adviser whose process puts the full claim in front of you, with time to read it, before it is filed, is treating it that way.Red flagYou cannot see the claim
- They tell you what does not qualifyAn adviser who tells you which projects and costs they left out, and why, is applying the test. That is what a claim that survives a review is built on.Red flagEverything qualifies
- Review support is in the priceA fee that includes help with a tax authority review, written down with what it covers, removes a cost you cannot predict and tells you the adviser expects to stand behind the claim.Red flagReview support costs extra
- Named people with qualifications you can checkA proposal that names the people who will do the work, with qualifications and registrations you can check, is telling you who answers for the claim before you sign.Red flagPressure to sign quickly
- They put their name on the claimWhere the claim form asks who prepared it, an adviser who gives their name is standing beside you. Where it does not ask, this green flag does not apply.Red flagAdviser not named on the claim
- You can leave with your recordsAn engagement you can end with reasonable notice, taking your records and working papers with you at no charge, is one you can afford to leave. That keeps every other term honest.Red flagExit fees that lock you in
KnowYourFees.org is published by Swanson Reed, an R&D tax advisory firm that competes with other advisers. This site does not recommend any adviser, including Swanson Reed.
© 2026 Swanson Reed. You may use the templates and checklists for your own business. Official material is used under the terms set by its publisher.