How to make Self Assessment less stressful for your practice
The Self Assessment tax return season, operating up to the deadline of 31 January, is likely one of the busiest and most stressful occasions for accountants.
There are lots of issues you are able to do to make this era less hectic and run extra easily and effectively for your accountancy practice and for your self.
We function some important suggestions for you on this in-depth article.
Right here’s what we cowl:
Want to know 2025 compliance milestones
Be part of Chris Downing and his skilled friends, accountant Sam Mitcham and bookkeeper Natasha Everard, as they check out the compliance panorama as we transition into 2025—with particular consideration to a profitable Self Assessment season, planning for Making Tax Digital for Revenue Tax, and Autumn Price range bulletins.
Be taught extra
Begin early with Self Assessment—and Making Tax Digital
For those who’ve ever puzzled how to get shoppers for your tax preparation enterprise, it is perhaps so simple as studying how to get them organised.
Encouraging shoppers to begin early with their tax returns and conserving good data utilizing Self Assessment accounting software program will make their life simpler and enhance your enterprise.
Is accounting stressful? It may be however you need to use practice administration software program to carry on prime of workflows and automate different processes.
It will assist you to minimise time on handbook duties, comparable to inputting knowledge from receipts, and spend extra time on value-added companies to shoppers.
And it’ll make you’re feeling a lot less harassed over the festive interval and into January.
The 31 January deadline may signify simply the few remaining touchpoints for shoppers earlier than the April 2026 introduction of Making Tax Digital for Revenue Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA). There’s additionally foundation interval reforms to take into account too.
It is perhaps a great time for your practice to begin educating affected shoppers in regards to the administrative modifications which might be going to be legally required of them within the coming years—and to begin planning assets inside your practice to cope.
Enroll a shopper for Making Tax Digital now, and they are going to be in nice monetary form when it rolls out in 2026 and 2027.
Self Assessment stress to take care of
Small enterprises make up over 99% of the 5.7 million businesses in the UK, in accordance to the Workplace for Tax Simplification. In three quarters of those, the proprietor doesn’t make use of any workers.
Because of this for them, coping with tax generally is a burden in contrast with the every day strain of operating a enterprise.
Time spent on document conserving can also be time they don’t seem to be incomes, so some accumulate and ship data to their accountants as late as doable, and sometimes in a disorderly method.
That is the best time to encourage use of HMRC sign-ups for your shopper for Making Tax Digital.
Stepping into the right habits early on will make sure the enterprise stays compliant. You might even undergo practice tax return varieties with them, however this places large strain on your practice’s tax groups.
They need to already chase data, tidy them, and file every little thing on time for your shoppers, creating stress, Self Assessment logjams, and longer working hours.
Caroline Miskin, senior technical supervisor, digital taxation, on the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), says that, as well as to shoppers’ tardiness, it’s typically a stressful interval for accountants due to the sheer quantity of labor concerned.
However, some companies have nailed the method by embedding methods that guarantee all returns are in by Christmas, she says.
Get your shoppers to start early
Step one in direction of attaining that is to put together far prematurely, says Caroline. Overview your processes instantly after one Self Assessment season finishes, then begin planning for the subsequent.
Analyse what went nicely, what didn’t, and how one can modify your processes for requesting and chasing data from shoppers.
Most companies now use industrial tax evaluation submitting software program. However good practice administration software program can also be important.
“We’re starting to see more software that automates information requests, via secure data exchanges, and chases late information,” says Caroline. “It will tell you the status of each job at any time.”
Set clear expectations and floor guidelines for shoppers and stick to them.
The intuition of some accountants is to be massively accommodating with tardy shoppers, as they pay the payments, says Caroline. However the companies that discover it less stressful have educated shoppers to ship data early and have stood by their guidelines.
Joanne Harris, international payroll compliance and audit lead at CSL, says encouraging shoppers to begin gathering their tax return data early offers you the leeway to verify, double verify, and discover and rectify errors earlier than the 31 January deadline.
On-line accounting software program goes a good distance in direction of organising, storing, and collating data wanted to submit annual returns, provides Joanne.
However she additionally recommends utilizing practice administration or workflow software program to set reminders for follow-ups, comparable to tackling shopper requests.
The result’s that, as an alternative of dropping time on actions comparable to receipt collation, certified accountants can provide extra beneficial experience and companies, comparable to tax planning, to shoppers.
Encourage your shoppers to use accounting software program
Alison Parsons, Sage improvement supervisor at accountancy practice Albert Goodman, says her agency is reaping the advantages of a concerted drive to present shoppers the advantages of utilizing cloud accounting software program and financial institution feeds.
Doing accounting digitally goes to turn out to be a authorized requirement for many sole merchants and landlords from April 2026, due to Making Tax Digital. How are you able to enroll a shopper for Making Tax Digital?
This may be finished through cloud accounting software program or perhaps a spreadsheet with the addition of bridging software program (though it’s not but clear how efficient this will likely be).
With financial institution feeds related to cloud accounting software program, shoppers can produce, in its easiest kind, a money guide that’s saved up to date and largely auto-populated by pre-set guidelines, she says.
This protects up to 80% of record-keeping time for the enterprise proprietor.
“It also means we can now approach these businesses soon after the end of the tax year and provide an early tax estimate, which reduces stress greatly for staff and is great for the client too,” says Alison.
“Internally, everyone shares the role of monitoring progress on client deadlines, with partners, managers and tax team members updated regularly on tax returns that have been completed and those still to come in.”
Everybody can also be eager to transfer this ahead at a a lot earlier stage than in previous years, so the majority of tax return work is nicely underway at a complicated stage, she says. This permits the crew extra time to concentrate on shoppers who would possibly want extra assist finishing their data.
“By making the most of bank feeds, rules, invoice capture and auto-entry, we have reduced time spent preparing basic records for our clients, allowing staff more time to analyse and review resulting figures,” says Alison.
“All this implies we are able to scale back time strain on workers and provide higher worth to the shopper, for instance, presenting key efficiency indicators [KPIs] and tailor-made administration packs as a part of the service.
“These give higher perception into how their enterprise is performing and an early signal of creating traits.
“It’s important for our clients to receive the best possible value from our service. Like many professions, accountancy is a competitive market. Firms that do not make the most of technology risk losing clients to those that offer more value.”
Serving to with Self Assessment for customer-service savvy shoppers must also enhance your status in your business.
Want to know 2025 compliance milestones
Be part of Chris Downing and his skilled friends, accountant Sam Mitcham and bookkeeper Natasha Everard, as they check out the compliance panorama as we transition into 2025—with particular consideration to a profitable Self Assessment season, planning for Making Tax Digital for Revenue Tax, and Autumn Price range bulletins.
Be taught extra
Transfer to automation
If you would like to understand how to put together tax returns for shoppers effectively, Chris Smith, director of private tax at accountancy agency BKL, says the rising use of robotic course of automation (RPA) for private tax returns is an particularly thrilling space for forward-thinking tax groups.
It will probably present higher management and entry, for instance, round submissions to HMRC.
“For tax advisers, RPA drastically reduces average time spent on a file, and time on repetitive tasks that are not expanding our tax knowledge,” he says.
“The result is a more efficient, less stressful January. It’s therefore worth talking to your firm’s IT team about RPA if you haven’t already.”
Chris says it’s important to know what challenges lie forward within the Self Assessment tax return season.
“Accountants can become set in their ways,” he warns. “They might use previous software program and have little curiosity in updating. Maybe they’re scared to retrain with new instruments.
“However tax software program is turning into smarter. Most may have workflow, automation instruments and hyperlinks to HMRC, so you need to use these items absolutely.
“You may also use these data for comparability subsequent 12 months, which can make future seasons less stressful too.
“If you are not open to change, the busy season will remain as hectic as ever – more so than it needs to be—and [service levels can suffer].”
As HMRC rolls Making Tax Digital (MTD) out past VAT to Revenue Tax and Company Tax, automation will transfer from non-compulsory to obligatory in lots of instances. By automating early, practices can perceive what works greatest for them and leverage the expertise to scale back the height workload throughout tax return season.
Being organised on this approach will assist to keep away from last-minute panics, which create extra threat of errors, missed planning alternatives, or not delivering good shopper care, he says.
Catherine Livingstone, companion at accountancy agency Wylie & Bisset, encourages her enterprise shoppers to automate as a lot as doable.
“There may be now software program our shoppers can use to make bookkeeping a a lot faster and extra environment friendly course of. Cloud accounting software program has many instruments that may make issues simpler to handle – for instance, you possibly can hyperlink to your financial institution instantly, so transactions are downloaded into your software program.
“Utilizing automation additionally reduces errors and accelerates processes. Plus, the software program will present up to date and correct data which means we are able to higher advise our shoppers all year long—not simply on the 12 months finish—and so they can make higher selections.
“The software can also help businesses operate as they can use it on the go, anywhere, to capture cash expenses or check whether a customer has paid them.”
Managing assets
Jo Nockels, head of group finance at accounting community TaxAssist Accountants, says it’s important to handle your assets fastidiously through the tax return season and tax return software program are you able to assist you to with that and be extra environment friendly.
“It will give you a clear understanding of all the jobs you need to complete by 31 January and how long they will take,” she says.
“If you have staffing issues, you can then forecast how long the jobs will take and plan to have the resources, for example, through staff overtime, or outsourcing to local bookkeepers.”
Receipt-processing software program is one other helpful software, says Jo. She provides: “Both through add, snap, scanning or emailing, this could seize the data on receipts and gross sales invoices, of various sizes, in document time.
“Plugging this data straight into cloud bookkeeping products is powerful and can give clients access to real-time insight into their business.”
Doc change portals are additionally nice instruments, she factors out.
“The postal service can be slow and unreliable, so we are starting to implement portals to securely exchange documents with clients,” says Jo. “It is safe and it provides an audit trail of document transmission and approval.”
Automate communication
Masum Ahmed, tax companion at McBrides Chartered Accountants, says communication is vital to making the interval to the tip of January less stressful, and extra worthwhile and helpful for shoppers.
“Our marketing team do a great job communicating about this, in differing forms, including via social media campaigns,” he says. “Each six weeks, beginning in Might, we ship a reminder to shoppers to file their data.
“Collaborating with colleagues in all departments, together with advertising and marketing and company finance, is important. Colleagues are nicely versed in speaking the advantages of submitting early and the alternatives for tax planning.
“For instance, if we all know the tax legal responsibility early within the 12 months, we may also help the shopper change their legal responsibility by making reward support funds, pension contributions and transferring belongings between spouses.
“We underline that the sooner a shopper completes their tax return, the extra time they’ve to funds and handle their money circulation.
“Additionally, if they’ve overpaid HMRC, it’s of their curiosity to full their tax return early. HMRC is less busy in July, so it would possible obtain their refund faster.
“We often remind clients that it’s better to have this in July than December—rather than being an early Christmas present, it could be money for a summer holiday. Sharing these benefits makes a difference to the workflow.”
McBrides additionally encourages shoppers to collect their tax return data all year long to allow them to entry it rapidly, and the agency communicates how straightforward it’s now to use expertise and embrace the cloud.
“Over the past few years, we have encouraged clients to embrace software to make things smoother for all,” says Masum.
“There are benefits to the client being more on top of their data and not having to rush to find errant receipts at the last minute.”
Ultimate ideas on making Self Assessment less stressful
The sheer quantity of labor and the tendency for shoppers to ship data late signifies that many accountancy practices nonetheless discover the interval up to 31 January hectic and stressful.
Add in educating about MTD for ITSA and the much more fast foundation interval reforms, and accountants will be forgiven for feeling their stress ranges rise.
However some at the moment are forward of the curve, thanks to higher processes and embracing enhancements in accounting and practice administration software program.
Beginning early is vital, as is reviewing your processes in an everyday and well timed vogue. Communication with shoppers can also be important and has been made simpler by technological enhancements.
For those who embrace these modifications, the Self Assessment interval ought to now not be a burden. With finely tuned processes and expertise, you would possibly even end it with stress ranges decrease than ever earlier than.
Regularly requested questions on Self Assessment and Making Tax Digital
How to make Self Assessment straightforward on shoppers?
Get them to put together early, change to digital record-keeping for a extra correct image of their monetary well being, and make positive they’ve all of the required data to fill within the Self Assessment kind on paper or on-line.
Ought to I transfer shoppers to MTD early?
The sooner you assist your shoppers make the change, the higher for your enterprise it will likely be.
Not solely will their monetary administration be pre-organised in a super approach for MTD, your effectivity in shifting them over from paper-based accounting will assist enhance your word-of-mouth status.
How can I scale back my shoppers’ Self Assessment stress?
Except for getting ready them for MTD early, you could possibly provide your shoppers common check-ins, scheduling reminders, a timetable of timelines to stick to, and 1-2-1 conferences to verify that they’re utilizing digital accounting software program accurately.
Speak them by way of the method and make positive they perceive what they’ve to do to be compliant.
Editor’s observe: This text was first printed in November 2019 and has been up to date for relevance.