Tax season: Thrive, don’t just survive!

The January tax season is the busiest time of the year. Hear, that? It’s the collective buzz of the UK accounting industry; it starts around mid-November and lasts through January.

While tackling the January season early on has been a top priority with many, accountants know one thing for sure: workloads go up and down throughout the year, and, at times, there is too much work to do and too few people to do it. Tax season is that time of the year.

Some accountants have found novel ways to prepare clients early, while others have seen an appealing option in outsourcing.

In this article, we will look at how you use outsourcing to complement your core staff this busy season:

Get the skills you need…

With outsourcing, you have access to skills you need for the exact amount of time you need them. Say you require additional staff to file tax returns but only until the end of January. Hiring external staff in an outsourcing company can get the job done, as you are free to release them once the tax season is over.

…without costly hiring

An advantage of using outsourcing staff is that you don’t have to resort to costly hiring. You can scale teams up or down as per your practice demands, without having to worry about expensive overheads that come in the form of recruiting and maintaining. When you carefully choose an outsourcing company you can eliminate the cost of both.

Help when you need it

Research says that the lack of capacity to provide more for existing clients (or take on additional clients) is a main challenge in growing fee revenue.

Many of our clients turned to outsourcing because of the flexibility it affords them. If your staff is busy with fiscal year-ends, you can hire external tax experts to look after self-assessment tax returns. It makes sense, especially, during seasons like January, as you may not require additional full time employees throughout the year.

Prevent occupational suicide

Your core in-house staff may be aces at accounting, but they are not robots in human appearance. Increased workloads often lead to burnout. When Accountancy Age, questioned accountants in their survey last month, “What are you most looking forward to in the next five years,” the majority answered “retirement”.

It’s unwise to overwork staff like this. Take a moment to assess whether you can use the extra support to complement your in-house staff.

More advice on tackling the tax season:

We hear you: the Tax season is overwhelming. Unnecessarily so. Why not outsource to ease the stress? We filed over 3000 tax returns last year and can take care of your tax worries for this year – and many years afterwards. Please feel free to contact us on 0870 803 1033.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Self-assessment tax return checklist to share with your clients