The tax season is one of the most challenging times for accountants in the UK. Accounting firms face many challenges, including high workloads, tight deadlines, endless work hours, and a lack of business skills. You might also face a shortage of staff, a lack of business skills and high costs of training and recruiting new staff. Do you struggle with any of these problems? We have the solution: outsourcing. Tax outsourcing companies can help you meet your client’s expectations, increase productivity, meet deadlines, and provide quick turnaround times. This sounds great!
There are many tax outsourcing companies in the market today. It might be challenging to choose the right one for you at first. We’ve put together a list with some questions you can ask potential tax outsourcing companies to help you make an informed decision.
What are your methods of protecting client data? Are you able to plan for an emergency?
Security is of paramount importance to any business, especially for an accounting firm. It would help if you were looking for compliance with the GDPR, ISO 27001 compliance, and non-disclosure agreements signed and executed by employees. These are all essential security measures to protect sensitive data and information. You should also check for redundancies and where company data is stored.
Which type of tax preparation software do you use?
Various companies use different tax preparation software. There is no single universal solution. It’s essential to ascertain whether the shortlisted company can work with the software your accounting firm uses. Companies that are technology agnostic will be able to serve better you better as they will still be relevant for your firm when you decide to change the software you are currently using. Ask for a list of tax preparation software that the tax outsourcing company uses.
What’s your average turnaround time?
The turnaround time is crucial because your firm is running at a breakneck pace during the tax season. It would help if a partner quickly turned in your tax returns. It’s helpful to know the expected turnaround time before speaking to potential partners. This will help you decide on who to choose.
What volume of work are you able to handle?
When you begin talks with potential outsourcing companies, it’s a good idea to have an estimate of how much work you’re planning to outsource to them. Once you have the number, talk to your outsourcing firm or company about how much work they can handle.
If they can’t finish the work on time, it doesn’t make any sense to send them large amounts of work. It’s also important to verify that they are able to handle additional work. Ask them about their average tax season volume to get a better idea of their workability.
What types of returns do you want to process? How skilled are your employees in handling different types of returns?
Work done by Experts is one of the major reasons to outsource tax requirements. It is important to verify that they have experts to resolve the tax problems and can file a tax return in a technical way, as well as the staff of the which you are going to outsource for tax services is expert or not? Ask the outsourcing company what tax returns they are proficient in and the work experience of its staff.
How much visibility will I have to the progress of my work?
Your business should have visibility into the progress of tasks assigned. Talk to your outsourcing partner to discuss the best ways to get regular updates on how things are going. A good outsourcing company will offer an automated workflow. This allows you to have real-time and on-demand visibility into the status of your work is doing.
What other services do you provide?
While your initial business needs may be limited to tax season, you might also want to outsource other accounting-related tasks. Ask them about their other offerings, such as bookkeeping and accounting. To make an informed decision, it is important to ask for references from past clients.
Final Discussion
The right outsourcing company can feel like an extension to your company. It’s crucial to research any potential outsourcing partner before you make a decision. Ask them the questions mentioned above to determine if they are a good fit to your company.
Fin-eX Outsourcing is an experienced outsourcing partner that will allow you to be efficient during tax season and provide high-quality returns for your clients. Fin-eX provides a wide range of tax outsourcing services including self-assessment and VAT bookkeeping as well as corporate taxes.
If you have any queries about tax outsourcing, reach out to our tax experts at askus@finexcoutsourcing.com or call +44 208 144 8995
