Challenges of the Tax Season: What Haunts Accountants During the Self Assessment Period?

The Self Assessment season is no less than a horror story for many accountants. Bound to their work desks away from family and festivities, accountants often list the busy tax season as the most frustrating time of the year.

From having to pull off all-nighters at work to experiencing sudden and acute workforce shortages, accountants battle numerous challenges through the Self Assessment season. While some drown in stress, others simply delegate their worries by outsourcing taxation services.

The data released by the UK government suggests that more than 10.2 million individuals filed their Self Assessment returns by the 31 January deadline in 2021. In addition, over 2.3 million customers were expected to file taxes by the 28 February extension.

As the UK business market empowers more startups and entrepreneurs to become self-employed, the above number is only slated to increase this year. This means accountants are in for another overwhelming tax year in 2022 unless they seek external help in the form of tax preparation outsourcing.

Let’s look at some of the most common challenges accountants face during the Self Assessment period and how to overcome them.

Capacity Challenges

Considering the accounting world is already battling a severe talent crisis, this one doesn’t come as a surprise. In fact, most accountants encounter capacity challenges throughout the year, which tend to get worse during the peak tax season.

Since most small and medium-sized accountancy practices in the UK are short-staffed, accountants get severely bombarded with work. Moreover, many accountants also encounter unexpected capacity challenges due to last-minute employee leaves, sicknesses, and resignations.

No matter how well you plan for the tax season, you are bound to experience capacity challenges at some point. These challenges can eat up your firm’s chances of attracting new clients and bringing in new business, thus restricting your growth.

One of the most surefire ways of creating capacity for your firm is through tax outsourcing. Outsourcing opens a vast pool of experienced and trained resources for accountants to hire for their team. Working as an extension of your team, these professionals can take up cumbersome tasks such as tax preparation and filing off your plate so that you can focus on other important services and firm expansion.

Last-Minute Tax Filing Requests

Any accountant filing Self Assessment tax returns for at least a few years now will completely relate to this. Last-minute tax preparation requests are more common than you would expect and can completely mess with your schedule for the busy season.

It is a matter of fact that all your clients will not be the same. While some are mindful of the tax season deadlines and prefer to file early, there will always be clients that turn up with Self Assessment requests right in the middle of the busy season.

Irrespective of the stress it can cause you and your team, turning down a tax preparation request means rejecting business and losing out on revenue. But you have your Christmas break planned ahead and cannot give up on your personal life either. In such a scenario, tax return outsourcing can be your saviour.

Outsourcing during the busy Self Assessment season offers a range of benefits to accountants. While it helps you accept new work and secure new clients, it also saves accountants from getting overburdened with work or compromising on their personal time.

Stress and Burnout

As mentioned earlier, the Self Assessment season is characterised by huge volumes of work and unexpected last-minute returns. Naturally, this causes accountants severe stress and may also lead to burnout.

A 2021 Indeed study revealed that burnout is common among accountants today, especially in the challenge-ridden post-pandemic world. The research indicated that 52% of the respondents admitted to feeling burnt out, which is up from 43% before the global coronavirus pandemic.

With the pressure on accountants increasing every year, particularly during the busy tax season, accountants are at a risk of serious mental and physical illness. Besides, stress and burnout significantly impact one’s productivity and efficiency, which are crucial to the tax preparation process.

To combat the stress of the busy season and prevent their staff from feeling overwhelmed, many accountants now opt to outsource tax returns. Outsourcing helps take the additional workload off accountants and helps them de-stress.

With outsourcing, you need not pull all-nighters at work or give up on the festive cheer. Simply delegate the last-minute requests to your outsourced team and they will churn out the returns in a quick turnaround time.

This tax season, stay away from stress and achieve TAXellence

TAXellence is when you and your staff don’t have to work extra-long hours to deliver your clients’ tax returns before the 31 January deadline. It is when you achieve 100% efficiency and productivity and churn out tax returns at breakneck speed.

TAXellence helps reduce the burden on accountants so that they sail through the Self Assessment season stress-free. This can be achieved by outsourcing taxation services to a reliable service provider like QXAS. QXAS, serving accountants for over 18 years now, has been committed to TAXellence and has successfully helped several accountants navigate the tax season.

QXAS is the accounting outsourcing division of QX Global Group, one of the fastest-growing outsourcing companies in West India. We have a vast team of 1500+ accountants and tax experts working dedicatedly for our clients’ success.

What sets QX accountants apart is their vast experience and expertise in the accounting field. All accountants working with QX are trained extensively at the QX Academy to adapt to global processes and understand the latest UK accounting and tax legislation.

With QXAS, you can scale your firm anytime and turn the upcoming Self Assessment season into an opportunity rather than a frustrating liability.

Why choose QXAS?

• Customised services based on clients’ requirements
• Access to a vast talent pool of 1500+ accountants
• Dedicated engagement models
• Exclusive turnaround time of 24-48 hours depending on the complexity of the tax returns
• Fully compliant with the latest data security standards
• Professionally affiliated with prestigious organisations like  ACCA

To learn how TAXellence can change the way you look at the Self Assessment season, book a free consultation with one of our outsourcing experts today. To explore more of our services, drop an email at [email protected], call us at 44 208-146-0808, or log on to Outsourced Accounting, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services | QXAS UK (qxaccounting.com).