All You Need to Know About Resourcing Effectively for the Tax Season

The tax season is one of the most nerve-wracking periods in the year for accountants all over the country. The tax season often brings with it the usual headaches of long working hours and missed deadlines.

In the UK, accountancy practices are stuck in tedious, mind-numbing work to meet the impending deadlines for filing Self Assessment tax returns for their clients. The impact of this stress is significant, weighing you down and draining the team physically and mentally.

The result – attrition and sick leaves due to the workload and stress, job dissatisfaction, and a lack of morale. The most effective solution to this issue is tax return preparation outsourcing.

Tax Season Woes: Capacity Challenges

The loss of a staff member, a sudden influx of clients during the busy season, and an increasing workload can add to your capacity challenges. The immediate thought that pops into your head would be to hire extra help to get you through the busy season. This, however, is easier said than done. Finding qualified staff to join your team when you are racing against time can be challenging, unless you outsource tax preparation.

According to the Hays UK Salary & Recruiting Trends 2021 Guide, 88% of accountants expect their practice’s activities to increase over the next 12 months, especially as things pick up after the pandemic. Approximately 46% of firms plan on hiring staff to manage the activities, and 73% have experienced skill shortages in the last 12 months.

Some capacity challenges that accountancy firms face when hiring qualified accountants include:

• Finding the qualified accountants at the right time
• Time spent in hiring resources
• The risks of hiring – Longer learning curve and attrition
• Cost of recruitment – Recruitment and training costs

Find the Perfect Tax Professional for Your Team

You have looked at the challenges. Now, let’s look at what an ideal tax professional for your team would look like:

• 100% Fee Earning – They work efficiently and collaboratively – so you don’t lose time or money
• Cost vs. Income – You can assess the income generated and compare it with the cost
• Skilled and Flexible – An employee that can support the team and help them tide over the busy season with very little training or support
• Confidence – The employee has the confidence to make the practice more profitable and complete their tasks ahead of time

Is Remote Working the Solution?

Since the start of the global pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, finance, and accounting professionals have been working remotely – both as employers and employees. According to GAAP Web’s report, 93% of employees agreed that they would like to continue to work from home even when office resumes, and 78% of finance and accounting professionals agree that remote working has resulted in significant productivity.

Remote working is here to stay. Through tax outsourcing, you can find the best player for every position, reduce staff burnout, provide the firm with the strategic advantage and give yourself and your team a healthy work-life balance.

What you need is a team that could come in, understand your firm’s objectives, and profitably reduce your workload can be an asset to achieve your business goals.

Outsource Tax Returns

In a competitive business environment, when staying agile is the key, outsourcing wins over expensive and often unreliable recruitment. It’s all about adding resources into your practice so you can become more efficient at considerably lesser cost and with fewer risks.

Outsourcing taxation services will reduce the heavy workload and provide time to focus on your business, whether it’s new services, business advisory, or the Self Assessment tax season workload.

Offloading the Tax Season Workload to QXAS

When accountancy firms were asked how they would use the extra time freed up by outsourcing, around 45% of the business leaders said they would dedicate more time to work-life balance. About 33% of accountants wanted to use it for higher fee-earning work, while 27% would build client relationships (IRIS Software Group Survey).

The QXAS tax outsourcing team can assist you with the mundane tasks for meeting deadlines, allowing you and your practice to focus on more productive work. This also keeps staff members happy, allowing them to focus on relevant work without slogging it during the busy season, especially during the holidays.

QXAS also provides the much-needed injection of resources into your practice to allow your business to grow from strength to strength. The team has 1000+ accountants working with accounting practices in the UK, USA, Canada, and Ireland. Each member of the tax team has experience of 5+ years.

The current customer base of around 500 accountants outsources six essential services: accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, iXBrl, audit support, and personal tax.

Last year alone, QXAS processed 7,000+ tax returns and helped several accountancy practices achieve their deadlines. With an experienced team with sound knowledge of accounting standards and tax legislation, QXAS has helped countless firms attain their targets.

In a competition-driven economy, outsourcing Self Assessment tax returns can help you achieve immediate scalability, reduce stress, and give you the support to grow your business. If you have any queries about tax outsourcing, reach out to our tax experts at [email protected] or call +44 208 146 0808.