THE desire for independent financial advice is growing and has prompted a number of brokers, once exclusively paid by commission, to offer clients the option of paying a fee for advice or services.

Now many people, who may have otherwise been directed to buy life assurance-based products with high commissions and charges, are choosing to put their savings into products where no commission is paid, but which may be more suitable to their risk/reward profile. Such products include bank and building society deposit accounts and An Post savings products.

To date, the difficulty with fee-based advice has been the cost of the fee - in many cases it is more than many people can afford to pay up front, even if it proves a wise investment in the long run.

One company that has been offering inexpensive fee-based financial services for years, but is better known for its annual Money, PAYE and Tax Guide, is the Taxation Advice Bureau which has just launched The little book of tab. This pocket-sized guide should become essential for the financial planning needs of the ordinary person.

The bureau opened its doors 10 years ago to anyone who needed tax advice or who wanted a tax return prepared. Run by Sebastian Devlin, a partner in the accountants Devlin Feehily & Associates, the bureau was aimed at ordinary people, many of them self-employed tradesmen, pensioners and others who didn't know any conventional accountants or could not afford the cost of their fees.

Also in 1986, Mr Devlin produced a booklet called the DIY Guide to PAYE. Within a few weeks it was high on the Irish nonfiction best-seller list, where the considerably larger version remains today. The 250-page Money PAYE and Tax Guide covers all aspects of personal tax, savings and investments and social welfare entitlements.

The little, book of tab is a guide to the services available from the bureau. It works on the simple principle that everyone wants tips on reducing tax (T), advice about saving money (A), and benefits that can be quantified (B), says Mr Devlin.

The bureau's greatest strength has been in providing a relatively cheap tax return service to anyone who walks in their door. For a flat £100 plus VAT they will complete the tax return, liaise with the tax inspector and run an annual health check of the client's personal finances. They'll keep your documents on file as well.

"About three quarters of our first-time clients end up with a refund," says Mr Devlin, "mainly because they have failed to claim allowances.

Over the last couple of years the bureau has received an increasing number of queries from worried investors about the state of their savings policies and pensions.

For between £20 and £50 Mr Devlin and his partner Sandra Gannon will prepare a report that tells you exactly how much money you have invested or saved, how much your investment or pension fund is worth, what tax benefits are (or were) available, and what the projected growth and final benefit rates may be and any relative product comparisons. Two of the most recent services the bureau has launched are the analysis of clients' remuneration packages and a corporate membership scheme, which may be of interest to smaller companies in particular.

In the case of the former, for £50, they will analyse the impact of your company pension scheme, profit sharing, share options, company car, subsidised mortgage and other benefits you may have on your total remuneration package.

The corporate membership has emerged from a severance service that the bureau has been offering the employees of companies which are cutting staff numbers and involves a 40-page account of all aspects of the financial package on offer, the tax and social welfare implications as well as savings and investment recommendations.

What the bureau is not, and does not claim to be, is an investment adviser to the well-to-do, even if some of their tax clients are. Instead, they are aiming for a niche market of modest income individuals and families who need accessible and inexpensive tax and financial advice.

The little book of tab is available from the Taxation Advice Bureau, Eagle House, Wentworth, Eblana Villas, Dublin 2, Tel. 6768633.