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What to do at the year end?

4th Apr 2012
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It's the end of another tax year, so time to remind clients that it's Tax Return time again. And once again we'll be sending out the same old letters. I just wonder if there's a better way.

Actually, the Tax Return letters are OK really. Our tax software enables us to print a checklist with blank spaces for this year and a note of the 2010-11 figures next to them so clients (and our team) have something to work on, a sort of aide memoire. Many clients use it, and if one comes in with the vouchers etc I usually note the figures on a copy of this checklist.

But what about accounts clients? We have been sending out the same letter for years reminding them that their year end is coming up, don't forget to do a stock take and send in your records - all of them! - as soon as you can. A small minority will have forgotten that it's their year end, but for most it's virtually junk mail. Does anyone have a better suggestion?

I can't help thinking that since this is one of the few occasions we write to clients we ought to make the communication more valuable. At this time of year we can send out tax rates cards at the same time, so that's something, but generally we ought to make more use of this opportunity.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has a better - or more effective - year end communication routine with their clients.

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By dbowleracca
09th Apr 2012 14:08

What we do for accounts
We do the same as you for tax returns, and it works okay too. There are a number of clients who don't pay any attention to the hecklist, but they get the stuff together in their own way.

For accounts, we send a reminder prior to the year end with a proposed date for doing the work/getting the books in (based on when we received them last year, our available resources and deadlines) and a checklist of what records we need. The checklist is tailored to each client based on the records we had previous year, or we use a generic one for new clients.

We also offer some tax planning tips, and the opportunity for them to have a tax planning meeting prior to the year end to see if we can spot any opportunities - which often leads to extra fees and helps us raise the issue of when are the books coming!

We started the accounts system last year, because we always have a quiet period during the April quarter, and this year we have already exceeded the fees we generated for the April quarter of 2011 and expect to be 30 - 40% up by the end of this month, which is good for cash-flow and client service.

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By carnmores
09th Apr 2012 17:54

maybe you should not be so quick on the draw

why not stagger your letter sending - the ones that replied promptly last year send now - leave the recalcitrants till August

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