When the tax season ends, it’s normal for us to take a chill pill until the next tax season stress is about to begin.
We are in no way against this practice, but have you noticed how this affects us every year because this cycle doesn’t seem to be broken?
We work overtime as the busy season starts picking up until we’re able to submit all the required reports. Then we lean back until the next tax season and undergo the same stress and hectic schedule.
How do you end tax season stress cycle? #
Here are two tips from the experts:
Put the previous tax season in retrospect. #
Identify the great things and bad ones. Which aspects were executed with ease? Which ones need improvement?
Be realistic and honest. If your staff has to be blunt and critical about an issue, let them be. If there’s something they would like to change to make their jobs better, take note of it.
List down the issues and your proposed solutions. #
If you have staff, ask around. Some comments made by accounting practitioners include:
- Partners or clients not responding on time when decisions have to be made. When this happens, remember what we shared previously in a different article. You have to let them understand why submitting on time is crucial.
- Partners do not conform to the deadline agreed upon. To avoid this in the future, make sure you let your partner know how it is affecting you, your timeline, and probably the company as a whole.
- Clients do not send the complete information yet they like to have a near final figure. If this is the case, let them know that complete return has to be reviewed before you can provide the ballpark figure. And, if possible, do not touch any data unless all that are needed have been handed in.
It may be a struggle to implement these changes just right after the tax season, but postponing it until the next tax season stress is about to commence poses a lot of challenge.
Plus:
The fresher the memories, the easier it is for everyone to remember what went right and what should be left out.
