Consider outsourcing to deliver self-assessment work in 2025

Build on existing outsourcing capability

Many accountants already outsource recurring work such as bookkeeping, year-end accounts preparation or the completion of quarterly VAT returns. Systems and processes are well established, and accountants are comfortable with the quality and timeliness of work produced by the outsource partner. Outsourcing high volume work where a clients’ tax position is straightforward (such as director salary and dividends from a personal company) can free up capacity to spend more time with clients requiring additional support.

Using an outsource supplier also offer flexibility to increase or reduce resources quickly and in line with demand. There is no need to recruit an onshore resource and the risks of making the wrong appointment are avoided. At Initor Global we offer self-assessment return preparation services with flexibility to increase the number of returns needed on a daily basis according to demand.

Outsourcing supports flexible pricing

At Initor Global our prices are fixed based on the complexity of return, with ‘simple’ returns covering director salary and dividends through to the most ‘complex’ returns requiring capital gains, crypto currency, or foreign income calculations. The fixed price remains the same throughout the period of contract, allowing accountants to secure additional margins from incremental pricing as deadlines approach. The onshore team can spend more time with the most complex clients, understanding client needs in more detail and offering additional services such as bookkeeping or specialist tax advice.

Onshore accountants remain in control of work

Accountants comfortable with cloud accounting software, automation and artificial learning use the technology to help build effective workflows. Most accountants have comprehensive practice management systems and use automated messaging to keep clients up to date about the progress of their work and responsibilities to meet deadlines. These processes can easily be implemented with an offshore accountant. Systems are maintained in real-time by the offshore accountant, and the onshore accountant can check the status of work and confidently update clients on the expected completion time, or any action needed to progress work. By leveraging the capacity provided by outsourcing partners, accountants can streamline communications and ensure the effective delivery of work.

Improve customer experience

Accountants know it can be difficult to prepare clients to meet HMRC’s deadline for submitting the annual self-assessment tax return. Clients will want to delay submitting any information to HMRC which results in a tax liability and aim to pay any tax due as close the 31 January deadline as possible.

Clients are usually not interested in the detailed work accountants needed to ensure their tax return is prepared accurately and on time. Accountants outsourcing the preparation of self-assessment tax returns find they have more time to spend with their clients discussing their personal tax situation and engaging them in the process, and less time is spent on administrative tasks such as sending reminders or obtaining data.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

With the introduction of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD IT) for certain taxpayers from April 2026, the submission of data each quarter to HMRC offers a good opportunity to start outsourcing recurring work such as monthly bookkeeping, which carries a significant risk of a deadline being missed. Outsourcing work also creates capacity for accountants to look carefully at their customers and identify those most a risk of non-compliance with HMRC requirements when MTD IT is introduced.

Outsourcing can handle many of the administrative tasks involved in taking on clients, such as registering information with HMRC and Companies House and submitting required documentation. Outsourcing such work creates the capacity for in-house accountants to understand the needs of new clients and risks associated with the engagement.

The ongoing management of clients can be resource intensive, and mistakes can be made where expectations about the services to be delivered for the agreed fee differ significantly. The outsourced accountant can manage the flow of communication with a client for the work they are responsible for, enabling the UK accountant to understand any change in the risk profile in clients individually or collectively.

Some of the work accountants can outsource now to help prepare clients for MTD IT and deliver effective personal tax services in 2025 and 2026 includes:

• HMRC registration and obtaining unique tax reference (UTR) numbers
• Data collection
• Converting manual records to digital
• Digital bookkeeping
• Client communication
• Tax computations
• Form SA 100 and Form SA 800 completion
• Prior period returns (‘historic claims’)
• HMRC queries
• HMRC filing.