Is this a normal day?
1) Starting at 7.45am ready to be a 'gun slinger' at 7.59 to get through to HMRC before anybody else.
2) Doing an annual return at Co House... pressing the enter button twice as it's so slow and being booted out.
3 ) Entering information too many times to register somebody for self employment including their old address and when they moved... why?
4) Awaiting the clients to tell you that they sold a residential property and the solicitor has not mentioned the 30 day rule... why?
5) waiting for HMRC to deal with a tax return that is floating in cyber space and then also making you feel that it is only you in the whole world this has happened to.
6 ) Receiving that call from the client who wants you to say it is okay to claim that grant even if he's having the best year on record but it must be okay as his mate has claimed it.
7) Clients will be okay with MTD... I know this because I still do a flat rate vat return for somebody who cannot work out 10% of his sales.
8) People who want a tax refund who have not paid a penny in tax.
9 Working extra hours to do pension declarations, RTI filings, MTD filings just to keep the fees to a reasonable levels.
10) Clients who tell you that you are lucky to live in that house as you must be making a fortune...' Are you still on that cruise?' ha ha ha ha....
All sound familiar... ' tax doesn't have to be taxing'...
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Havent you forgotten the 45 minute wait on the helplines, assuming you dont get cut off at the first attempt!
Oh and the 'I'm affected by IR35 and will be closing down, oh sorry forgot to tell you I am not affected so lets carryone' Despite the closing down of paye scheme etc...
Oh and the 'I'm affected by IR35 and will be closing down, oh sorry forgot to tell you I am not affected so lets carryone' Despite the closing down of paye scheme etc...
had 2 of these that had schemes shut in March then reopened in April.
Even had one that we shut their VAT & PAYE schemes April 20, only to find out when doing their Dec 20 accounts they’d continued trading normally through ltd, paying wages and charging VAT. “I thought it was weird you’d not chased me for my VAT stuff for a while”.
You left out my current bane, trying to figure out the detail of EU VAT for a client who feels entitled to my applying it to his particular circumstances at no charge.
On the plus side, the pubs will re-open soon and yours truly shall be able to return to his favourite summer activity sitting in a beer garden listening to Couch-case client rattle on @ meter rate of around a hundred quid a pint. The beer serves as useful anaesthetic.
Or the constant negotiating for a lower price. Eventually agree a price. Get a call 8am 6th April wanting to know when their SA return is going to be done. I don't answer the call. Get an email 9th April telling me they are going somewhere else and are terminating the relationship. Now they have shopped around and realised that the other local accountants aren't as stupid as me when it comes to pricing and could they stay. Nope.
Well done for standing firm exceljockey. Sure I can't be the only reader of your post who did a silent air punch a la Karate Kid on your behalf at seeing your response.
Receiving an email from a client (or worse a letting agent) thats followed up with a phone call 30 seconds later asking why you haven't replied yet
Wont have anyone left. They don't understand that we are doing more with the same amount of time especially the CIS ones.
There are processess I remember all my life
Though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these processes have their moments
Of frustration and ire I still can recall
Some I dread and some forgiving
In my life I’ve seen them all
And with all these irks and ires
There is no one compares with you
And these mem'ries lose their meaning
When I think of HMRC reborn anew
And I know I'll always have affection
For systems of old that worked before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my past life I loved you more
You forgot 11) 12.45pm receive email from client who now needs a mortgage certificate for a house they want to buy, and can I prepare the accounts and sign said certificate today (even though we had been chasing the info for 3 months)
Brilliant post, so glad its not just me who feels like this!
Don't forget to mention trying to sort out the mess on Sage & QB entries now the client can take a picture and hey presto its a set of accounts MTD compliant.... why do you need an accountant?
12) phone call from contractor/freelancer client that starts “I was talking to my mate ...”
Today's call from a client
I have NHS hearing aid but am going private. £8,000. It says on the website I can put it against tax as I will hear better at work.
That was 10 minutes ago.
Trouble is ... there are so many obscure rules/exemptions that some (fairly well-known) companies embed them as part of their central marketing message.
Wide shoes anyone? If you tick the box on the website saying you have a medical need (undefined), then they knock off the VAT from your bill.
[I presume that combination of age and being a tad overweight is not a recognised medical need - although I now wonder how many tads there are in a lb or even in a kilo?]
My point is there are so many apparently legal ways to avoid paying a tax (or get it refunded) that people will believe almost anything without even asking MDTP.
“Can you please claim furlough salary for me from HMRC since last April. I saw your email at the time, but didn’t think that I needed to ask you to claim it for me….I’ve been too busy working to ask you before now …”
Seriously.
1 client Telecons today, another v similar last Thursday.
