Endless work hours, last-minute clients and tight time constraints – just a brief summary of what every January looks like. This is the same story repeated every year, unless you outsource tax returns to a reliable outsourcing service provider. However, January 2021 is a tad bit different. The usual challenges and struggles of an accountant are amplified this year. Accountants have been filing tax returns from home trying to maintain their work-life balance but now the fatigue of overwork, late nights and being locked up inside for weeks is finally setting in. What Are You Struggling With The Most? Difficult Deadline The news of HMRC rejecting the calls to extend the tax season deadline amidst national lockdowns might have hit accountants hard. The month of January is infamous for being excruciatingly hectic for accountants and this year, there’s an added backlog coming from 2020. Accountants are sacrificing their weekends and burning the midnight oil making sure that they meet the fast-approaching deadline, and their clients don’t end up paying any penalty. Monotony of Work-from-home Believe it or not, but work-from-home does get extremely monotonous at times. Especially, at this hour when accountants are racing against the clock and working under great pressure, it’s always good to have support from fellow accountants. Right now, accountants are just stuck in the continuity of tax work and household chores and apparently, there seems no end to it. This is where tax return preparation outsourcing comes into the picture, making your tax season a little less hectic than usual. Last-minute Clients While accountants are pushing against the impending deadline for their regular clients, there’s always a set of clients popping up in the end with a huge pile of tax returns. Some of them with massive complications as well. Accommodating such clients is a massive struggle. Staff Shortage Generally, most firm owners grapple with the problem of resource crunch at this point of time. It’s either because of the staff on leave or too many tax returns coming in. This year, the staff on furlough is another reason for having fewer hands on the deck. Reaching Out to HMRC Over Calls With so many tax legislations changing over the last year, accountants have been spending hours calling HMRC enquiring about the new tax laws. This is one of the most tedious tasks facing accountants this year, and is better delegated to an experienced UK tax return outsourcing provider. Chasing Clients The clients are now working out-of-office. Everyone has their own pattern of working and that makes it really difficult to reach out to them. Chasing clients has always been a task for accountants, and the pandemic made it a tougher drill. Many Problems, One Solution Here’s a guide to help you focus more on clients and boost your team’s morale in these last few weeks of the tax season. It includes: How to finish the left-over returns by deadline with less strain How to increase turnaround time without hampering the quality How People, Process & Platform can ease the burden Get a January 2021 Tax Season Checklist Download “Surviving January: An Accountant’s Guide To Navigating Rush Season From Home” Keep Calm & Make More Profits The chaos in January is inevitable. You faced it last year, you are facing it right now, and you will face it in the coming years. The only way you can make the most of the tax season is by keeping your sanity intact and being strategic about it. Right now, focus on tackling this month, but for the next tax season, plan ahead. Make a sound strategy, partner with an outsourcing firm and send gentle reminders to the potential last-minute clients to avoid last-hour hassles. Just take a deep breath and Get, Set & FOLLOW THE GUIDE. Shweta Pandey Creative and enthusiastic, Shweta turned into a marketer for her independent ventures long before she formally joined the realms of QXAS marketing team. Alumni of the University of Delhi and MICA - school of ideas, and with experience in creating content for multiple niches, Shweta now creates content and strategies to chart the changing landscape of the accounting industry. Unauthorized copying or plagiarism of our content is a violation of intellectual property rights. We take such matters seriously and will pursue legal action to protect our original work. Anyone found engaging in such activities will be held accountable under applicable laws. Originally published Jan 08, 2021 07:01:28, updated Nov 22 2024 Topics: Growth, Outsourcing, Tax, Tax outsourcing, tax season Don't forget to share this post! 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