Breaking the cycle

Soon we will enter the busy tax season.  As you know this is a time consuming process – you chase clients for their records, then prepare their tax return.  You chase clients for clarification, then finalise their tax return.  You chase clients again for their approval and finally you submit their tax return to HMRC. There’s a pattern here – preparing, finalising and submitting tax returns takes relatively little time compared with the time involved chasing clients.   

Your work habits, whether you reach for your mobile first or for your laptop for example, hold the key to how you deal with situations. Hold a particularly entrenched habit in one direction and you can actually close off all the other options that might have been available to you. Becoming mindful of your habits allows you to change them and unlock new possibilities.

With this in mind, by addressing the time involved chasing clients, the whole process can become much smoother.

At IRIS we are keen to simplify life for our customers. We have a range of initiatives within the IRIS Accounting Suite that will simplify the whole process. These include

• Using the e-checklist list feature to request details from clients, or show them what you already know for them to confirm

• Sending reminders to those that have not yet completed their e-checklist at the click of a button

• Viewing the clients’ Digital Tax Account within the Client Dashboards to determine the information HMRC holds on your client and importing the data directly into IRIS Personal Tax. This short video shows how: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKpzDzGcIbA

• Sharing the completed Tax Return with clients at the touch of a button using IRIS OpenSpace

• Simplifying the approval process by allowing clients to easily approve their tax returns via IRIS OpenSpace:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSJxS_YnC9k 

Revisiting the whole end to end process and tweaking your work habits can result in smoother workflows, significant productivity improvements and a stress free busy season.