How to solve the top three challenges accounting and tax professionals face at tax time This article is
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olters Kluwer recently surveyed 260 Australian and New Zealand accounting and tax professionals for the Wolters Kluwer 2021 Tax Season Challenges Report. This article talks about the top 3 challenges accounting and tax professionals faced at tax time. Sixty-four percent of the survey respondents confirmed their number one challenge at tax time was keeping up with recent taxation legislation changes. This isn’t new - for several years, we have seen how ongoing legislative changes create challenges for accounting firms and tax practitioners. Fifty-three percent of firms grappled with obtaining all necessary data and documents from clients. And the third most common tax time challenge, with 43 percent of respondents, was recognising the need to improve productivity outcomes. All of these challenges are underpinned by the fact that accounting and tax professionals provide “always-on services” in an economy that is facing constant corona-impacted change. Employees and clients expect you to stay ahead of the curve and help keep them there too. This is why Wolters Kluwer have created products which provide a firm with digital automation software, practice management tools and online research capabilities. These
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Rakesh Naidu, Head of Product for Professional Software, Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting AsiaPacific A product professional passionate about designing solutions that solve customer problems and make it easier for customers to achieve their desired outcomes. Rakesh has a particular interest in continuous improvement to drive firm efficiencies.
products help you with task-based and rapid-fire legislative change workflows, as well as examples in the last year which meant and practical guidance to enhance that individuals and businesses your services roadmap. needed a Also, tools such as trusted advisor Chasing client calculators, checklists to understand, information - Cloudand flowcharts are analyse and based Client Portals available for your communicate are the single best needs. virtually overnight. way to simplify A genuinely communication with Here’s how to difficult task for any every client overcome the three accounting firm – major challenges the and one we expect will Wolters Kluwer 2021 continue in Australia in Tax Season Challenges Report the medium-term. identified and future proof your accounting firm. This is where an intelligent online tax research platform, 1) Ever changing legislation that curates and creates expert content and commentary, Remote work is tough for any cases, and practical, real-world professional to manage by examples, with trusted up-tothemselves—but when you’re date data and insights becomes a CPA or CA, and dealing with invaluable. Having an online financial data, there are legal tax research platform with easy repercussions for not getting it access to the latest tax legislation, right. Even tougher is ensuring rulings and judgments is crucial. your team is spending an appropriate amount of time There are also tools available, researching, analysing and like CCH iQ Client Match, which staying on top of legislative identify the hundreds of macrochanges. This in turn diverts economic and legislative events vital resources, time and energy that take place every year in when you are already time-poor. Australia – including changes The cost of this task is falling to tax laws, Australian Tax back on your business one way Office (ATO) announcements, or another - you will either lose or rule changes to accessing time over-analysing unimportant superannuation. The tool uses information or engulf your staff predictive intelligence to search with an unsustainable workload an accounting firm’s database and during tax time. identify specific clients who will be impacted by those event(s). There has already been vast In just a single search, a firm can
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