Insights and Updates on Tax Planning and Beyond

If you were asked how well you know your clients’ goals—whether it’s their life, business, or financial goals—what would you say?

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If you struggled to answer, don’t fret because you’re not alone. Many firms frequently overlook (or even miss) the importance of client goals in tax planning. It’s actually a big gap in the tax planning process, and it isn’t helped by the fact that tax planning is all too often left until the last minute, which means client goal-setting is usually rushed—if it’s even done at all.

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But skipping out on client goal-setting impacts both firms and clients because it results in less effective and less personalised tax advice. 

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In this article, we’ll help you jump on this opportunity to get to know your clients and their goals better so you can deliver tailored tax advice and better client outcomes.

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Missed Opportunities: 3 Reasons Why Client Goals Get Ignored in Tax Planning

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Skipping goals is not only bad for clients (who are often left with generic advice that doesn’t address their needs in a meaningful way), but it’s also bad for firms because this can lead to dissatisfied clients and (potentially) damaged relationships. 

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In the worst cases, ignoring client goals can even impact retention if unsatisfied clients look elsewhere for the personalised tax planning they need.

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At this point, you might be wondering, ‘Why is it so common for firms to overlook client goals?’. Well, there are many contributing factors to why it happens, so let’s go through a few of the most common reasons why.

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1. Procrastination aka the Last Minute Rush

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Everyone knows that getting their taxes done early can save mountains of stress come tax season. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the near 800,000 taxpayers who waited to file until the very last day, and a shocking 33,000 of them waited until the final hour—talk about suspense!

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Even worse is the 1.1 million people who missed the deadline entirely and all the additional stress and late fees that entails. But why must we keep doing this to ourselves? It’s the same 31 January deadline every year, after all. 

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Because in the panicked rush to get those last-minute taxes finished on time, client goals and goal-setting get sacrificed due to a lack of time or energy, which means clients miss out on opportunities for tax savings and other efficiencies.

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It’s a vicious cycle but it’s possible to break out of it with a proactive approach that encourages tax planning throughout the year.

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2. Taxes are Seen as a Burden, Not an Opportunity

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Most people see taxes as a burden or obligation and therefore put off doing them for as long as they possibly can. This mindset not only feeds into the procrastination we just discussed, but framing tax planning in this way also sets a negative tone from the start, which only compounds the issue.

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As accountants, don’t underestimate your ability to set the tone when it comes to taxes and goal-setting, either. If you approach it as a chance to get to know your clients, save them money, and build trust, it can completely change the vibe from being a burden or necessary evil to a collaborative opportunity where you’re working towards common goals. 

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Done right, it might even help your firm expand from a mere service provider to a more proactive, advisory role or even strategic partner.

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3. Tax Planning is Too Complex

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Tax planning can be complicated as regulations change all the time, and many clients have been conditioned to only care about compliance instead of seeing tax planning as an opportunity to develop a tailored tax strategy based on their goals.

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Additionally, many small businesses owners have a tendency to think of tax planning as only something for the major corporations or the ultra wealthy. They may not even be aware of how goal-setting can help fuel a tax planning strategy that helps them minimise their tax burden—and it’s up to you to show them otherwise.

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Also, the way that we do taxes also encourages more short-term thinking on a year-by-year basis, and it can be easy to get so focused on maximising the short term that we miss out on long-term opportunities and other benefits further down the road. 

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That’s why goal-setting can be so effective—it can help shift client perspectives toward the long-term and set them up for success for years to come.

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Capturing Client Goals with TaxTorch

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Now that we know why client goals get ignored so often, let’s talk about how Tax Torch takes the headache out of goal-based tax planning.

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Tax Torch was built to tackle the most persistent problems head-on, starting with client goals, by providing a centralised platform that tracks your clients’ life, business, and financial goals in one easily accessible place. That way, you’re able to gather, organise, and incorporate client goals into tax planning from the get-go.

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Not only does this increase the visibility of your clients goals across the firm, it helps to ensure your team and other stakeholders are aligned while also providing a place where people can easily view and update those goals as needed

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Here’s how it works:

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1. Gathering Client Goals 

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Tax Torch’s built-in goals tracker makes capturing client goals easy, which means no more wasted time sifting through emails, searching for client records, or chasing other team members for information because everything you need is right at your fingertips.

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2. Integrating Goals into Tax Planning

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Now that you’ve gathered your client goals and organised them in Tax Torch, let’s look at how you can integrate them into your client’s tax planning strategy.

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For example, if your client is a sole-trader with 6 figure income and their goal is minimising taxes, you could discuss incorporating their business to manage when they receive their income personally to take advantage of lower rates.

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In another example, if the client has a limited company with the same goal of minimising taxes, you could look at a mix of salary and dividends to reduce Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions. You could also discuss timing the dividends across several years to avoid hitting a higher tax bracket if this aligns with the client’s goals.

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Start Delivering the Personalised Tax Planning Your Clients Deserve

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Delivering personalised tax planning is one of the best ways to keep clients happy while maintaining a great relationship. Every client, no matter how big or small, appreciates the personal touch and focus that comes from tailored tax advice.

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Not only will you enhance client trust, but you might even be able to assume a more proactive, advisory role as a strategic partner in your client’s financial success. 

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Discover how to deliver bespoke personal tax planning without the headaches. Join the waiting list today and see for yourself how Tax Torch’s proactive approach makes tax season easier for everyone.

Have you ever waited until the last minute to file your tax returns?

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Last year, approximately 1.1 million people missed the tax deadline, according to the HRMC — no doubt causing untold stress for their accountants. And every year, countless firms tell themselves ‘never again’, only to have history repeat itself. 

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It’s a vicious cycle but it doesn’t have to be this way because reactive, last-minute tax planning isn’t good for anyone. It’s stressful, creates countless bottlenecks (good luck if you have to contact the HRMC), and ultimately, it leads to worse outcomes for clients.

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In this article, we’ll show you how to flip the script from reactive to proactive tax planning with a forward-thinking approach so everyone can breathe a bit easier next time tax season rolls around.

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Why proactive tax planning matters

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Many accountants have experienced the perils of last minute tax planning first-hand, so let’s hone in on what you can expect from a proactivei tax planning approach.

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1. Maximise deductions and credits

Being rushed and stressed out can make tax planning harder than it needs to be. It increases the risk of missing something critical, especially if your team is juggling multiple client returns at the same time. 

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This can result in clients missing out on opportunities to reduce their taxable income, such as a client forgetting to mention their charitable donations or pension contributions and then missing out on that deduction.

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Proactive tax planning avoids these situations and gives your firm the time to optimise your clients’ tax benefits. When you’re not rushing to meet a deadline, you can ensure nothing gets missed throughout the year as everything gets updated and reported as it happens. 

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An added bonus — by the time tax season comes, you’ve already completed much of the legwork and submitted a large portion of the returns, hopefully leading to a less stressful festive period. 

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2. Greater flexibility and better decision-making

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Starting tax planning earlier helps you keep an eye on your client’s financial situation throughout the year, which makes it easier to identify what’s working while having the flexibility to adapt to opportunities, threats, and other changes.  

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Flexibility is important because tax laws change all the time, like when a new government has just been sworn in and there are big budget changes.. But being proactive can help  clients adapt to legislative changes without the added pressure of the deadline looming over your shoulder.

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3. Personalised advice creates closer relationships

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Another benefit of proactive tax planning is it gives firms the opportunity to provide ongoing, personalised tax advice throughout the year, the benefits of which cannot be understated. 

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Giving personalised tax advice helps create a more collaborative working relationship where you and the client feel more like a team with a shared goal, instead of clients simply emailing their tax info and leaving it in your hands.

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Everyone appreciates a personalised approach because it makes them feel valued, and this can deepen the client relationship and even improve retention in the long run. 

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Plus, tax planning throughout the year means you have more time to take a deeper dive into your client’s finances to deliver better advice, instead of the standardised, one-size-fits-all recommendations that you might be forced to give if you’re scrambling at the last minute.

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How Tax Torch streamlines tax planning

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One of the driving inspirations behind Tax Torch was providing a proactive tax planning tool to eliminate the eleventh-hour sprint before the tax deadline. 

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Now that we’ve gone over why a forward-thinking approach is so important, here are a few ways Tax Torch helps firms achieve that while also streamlining the entire tax planning process. 

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1. Centralised client data and goals in one place

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Tax Torch centralises client data within a single platform, which fixes a process that’s often broken or fragmented. What this means for firms is no more: 

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• Scrolling endless email threads for lost attachments
• Double-data requests that annoy clients
• Incomplete forms or inaccurate data
• Disorganised documents with dozens of versions

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In addition to solving these common data headaches, Tax Torch allows you to keep track of your clients’ life, business, and financial goals in one place for easy access and improved performance tracking.

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2. Accurate salary vs. dividend calculations

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Tax Torch’s built-in Salary vs. Dividend Calculator quickly calculates the optimal tax position for clients and helps you provide the best possible advice that is tailored to your client’s specific needs. This helps clients in everything from making better business decisions to reducing their tax burden, while also saving firms the time and complexity of calculating it all manually.

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3. Real-time scenario planning with easy comparisons

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With Tax Torch’s real-time scenario planning, you and clients can explore different tax scenarios and instantly see the impact, which turns the uncertainty of making complex decisions into something more simple and clear.

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This allows clients to feel more confident about not only planning for the future but also the decisions they make by providing a proactive, data-backed basis upon which to build their strategy moving forward. 

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4. Visually appealing, client-friendly reports

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All too often, the big takeaways can get buried deep in a spreadsheet or lost in the pages of a long report that clients never read. This goes to show that even the best data in the world means nothing if your clients don’t see it or can’t understand it.

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That’s why Tax Torch helps accountants and firms create professional, visually appealing reports that quickly get to the heart of the matter so that clients truly understand the value and impact of your tax planning advice.

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5. Scalable for firms of all sizes

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Whether you’re a small/mid-size firm or a large enterprise organisation, Tax Torch can help you quickly scale your tax planning capabilities by bringing together usually scattered information into a streamlined consistent process.  

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Be a proactive tax planning pro

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Even though the end of the tax year is fast approaching, there’s still time to be proactive and get a headstart on things and really add value to your clients and identify fee generating opportunities.! We highly recommend reaching out to clients now to get the ball rolling and begin asking for the important documents you need ahead of time because you’ll be glad you did.

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The best time to start was yesterday, but there’s no better time than now. 

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Discover how to deliver bespoke personal tax planning without the headaches. Join the waiting list today and see for yourself how Tax Torch’s proactive approach makes tax season easier for everyone.

Collecting info shouldn’t be as hard as collecting taxes, but with some clients, you just never know. Every firm has that one client (or two, or three…). They might even be a dream client most of the time with one huge exception–whenever you ask them for something, it’s going to take forever.

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Tax season is already stressful enough and if you don’t file in time because the client didn’t send the documents until the last minute–who gets the blame?

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Luckily, there’s a better way. This article will dive deep into the tips and tricks of proactive tax planning that will help you ditch those manual processes, streamline data collection, and make communicating with clients a breeze.

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Communication is key

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You’d be surprised at how many issues could have been resolved (or even prevented) with better communication, whether in your personal or professional life. With your clients, you might have weekly or monthly check-ins and the occasional ad hoc meeting when necessary. 

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But how come client communication is still mostly manual–especially in an era where there seems to be an app for almost everything?

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Usually, it’s an email or a quick message when there’s a status update or you need a particular document from them. And if things are urgent–like you needed their tax return yesterday–you might even give them a call. 

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Regardless of how you stay in touch, client communication will always be an important part of tax planning. But it’s also supposed to be a two-way street, and it’s frustrating if you’re the one who’s always following up because the client missed a message or phone call.

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But, as with most manual processes, it’s inefficient and the potential for misunderstandings abound, especially in text where tone and humour don’t always translate well (which is also what I tell myself when my Slack jokes get met with *crickets*).

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Manual processes: Bottlenecks and headaches

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Have you ever had to frantically sift through thousands of emails, DM’s, and Slack messages looking for that one critical document that your client swears they sent months ago?

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With data coming from so many places these days, it’s harder than ever to track it all–between all the emails, spreadsheets, calls, meeting notes, and audio transcriptions–much less store it in a single place for easy access. 

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For many firms, manual data collection is the norm but it’s a frustrating mess of patchwork processes with documents scattered across the ether. Sometimes, those documents are buried a hundred folders deep in a Shared Drive. Other times, they’re lost in an email chain. 

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And then, there are the documents that can only be found on that one coworker’s computer because they were the only one who downloaded it before the link expired and it was lost forever. All these bottlenecks add up and cause significant time delays, inconsistent data, and frustrating miscommunications.

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Let’s say you’re still not convinced that manual data collection is really that bad. Sometimes, it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. But we’ve spent enough time talking about how client communication is, and now it’s time to show you how it could be.

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How Tax Torch transforms client communication

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Tax Torch was built to make tax planning easy and solve the communication bottlenecks that plague firms during tax season. Here’s how Tax Torch does it:

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1. Centralised data collection

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You can’t underestimate the importance of having the right data at the right time. That’s why Tax Torch stores all client information–whether it’s business performance, financial goals, or major milestones–all in one place.

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Tax planning can be chaotic, but Tax Torch is your single source of truth for all things client-related and ensures that everybody on your team is on the same page.

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2. Real-time scenario planning

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Businesses are always looking to the future and planning their next move. With Tax Torch, scenario planning is made easy as Tax Torch helps you identify uncertainties and run scenarios on how your business could be affected in real-time. 

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In just a few clicks, you can eliminate the hours of manual spreadsheet calculations and slash your risk of error while also safeguarding your business for the future.

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3. Salary vs. Dividend calculator

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Tax Torch’s built-in Salary vs. Dividend Calculator is an effective tax planning tool that helps you quickly calculate the best tax position for clients. Simply fill in a few numbers and in a couple clicks, the calculator will help you find the highest combined savings, so you can provide bespoke tax planning more easily and precisely.

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4. Visual reporting

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Stare at the spreadsheets for long enough and your eyes are bound to glaze over. It happens to the best of us, and it’s one of the biggest reasons businesses need accountants. 

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That’s why visual reporting is your friend. It helps bring the data to life in ways that spreadsheets just can’t live up to because a simple infographic can go a long way in helping clients understand complex tax advice. 

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Tax Torch’s built-in data visualisations make it easy to spice up your reports with graphs, charts, and other visuals to get your point across quickly and make your reports more visually appealing.

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Elevate your tax planning with Tax Torch

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Communication is at the heart of accounting–whether it’s with clients, coworkers, or HMRC–and manual processes are one of the biggest roadblocks to clear communication. These processes, such as an over-reliance on spreadsheets or manual data entry, lead to mistakes, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities. 

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But you shouldn’t have to wait until the last minute, searching old email chains that are littered with unanswered follow-ups, just hoping that the P60 you needed is still attached.

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Taxes don’t have to be that way anymore. Tax Torch was developed to address these communication hurdles head-on with centralised data, real-time scenario planning, and visual reporting to help you leave the days of outdated processes and dirty data behind.

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Are you interested in streamlining your communication and data collection processes for happier clients, more engaged employees, and better tax advice?

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Start your free trial to see how Tax Torch is in action.

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We get it. Tax planning can be a huge headache, especially for small to medium-sized businesses without a dedicated tax team. After all, few things are worse than staring down the barrel of those year-end tax deadlines, feeling anxious and burnt out by the constant bottlenecks (that even make some of us want to grab a bottle of our own come February!). 

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But tax planning is worth it for any business owner who truly wants to be tax efficient–because who doesn’t want to lessen their tax burden and keep more of their hard-earned money? 

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In our experience, some of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of easier, more effective tax planning are entrenched, manual processes that date back to the early 80s–and nothing symbolises that better than the ubiquitous spreadsheet.

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Despite all of our advances in technology, the way we do our taxes remains antiquated, which forces us to manually fill out those spreadsheets as we try and navigate the cells and formulas that can confound even the best of us.

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4 things everyone hates about tax spreadsheets

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Anyone who claims they don’t hate tax spreadsheets is likely lying (or they’ve convinced themselves otherwise by mastering hundreds of obscure shortcuts, formulas, and formatting hacks). 

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You might be surprised how many businesses still run their taxes on spreadsheets–but then again, if you’ve worked in the industry long enough, you’re probably (unfortunately) all too familiar with it! And while spreadsheets are an amazing tool for many purposes, when it comes to taxes, they’re absolute torture.

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At this point, you might feel like spreadsheets are an inescapable part of business, regardless of industry, as many see spreadsheets as a necessary evil that must be accepted because ‘it’s the way it’s always been done’. 

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Still, if you’re like us, you’ve probably found yourself squinting at a spreadsheet until your eyes water as you think to yourself, “There HAS to be a better way”. And you’re not alone, as various studies have shown anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of businesses still rely on spreadsheets for critical functions such as tax planning, budgeting, and reporting.  

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But if spreadsheets are so widely used, then why don’t they work for tax planning? Well, here are four of the most common reasons why spreadsheets and taxes are a match made in hell. (Sidenote: How many of these reasons can you relate to?) 

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1. Spreadsheets are a pain to update

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Tax rates keep changing but those spreadsheets often don’t get updated along with it, either because it falls between the cracks, it’s too complicated, or the spreadsheet is so old that nobody has ownership of it anymore.

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Nobody wants to be ‘that person’ who changes a single cell and then accidentally breaks the entire spreadsheet. Even though “Ctrl + Z” is a thing (or Command + Z for Macbook users), it can be a daunting task to update an old spreadsheet. This is why so many spreadsheets used for tax planning don’t get updated with the latest tax rates every year–which brings us to reason number 2. 

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2. Versioning aka “Final copy.2.0.finalfinal.version” syndrome

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Have you ever been in a situation where there are 200 versions of the same spreadsheet because everyone in the organisation or department made their own version? Then, when it comes to actually doing those taxes, nobody knows which one is the latest version, which can turn into a soul-destroying bottleneck for the unlucky person who has to fix it.

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Double checking and reconciling everything into a single source of truth is a nightmare that we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemies. And that’s not even mentioning the productivity and hours that would be lost fixing it!

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3. Tax planning is complex

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The complexity of tax planning often scales with the size of your practice and after a certain point, relying on a simple spreadsheet and calculator just won’t cut it anymore. Besides, taxes are about more than just the figures because truly effective tax planning must consider the client’s financial goals. 

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Numbers without any context don’t mean much on their own, and considering your client’s goals provides that valuable context and ensures that your calculations are relevant and valuable to the client.  

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4. High risk for human error

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Manual data entry is a menial, repetitive task that requires an extreme attention to detail with huge potential consequences for any mistakes. You can probably imagine how a misplaced decimal or summation error can affect a company’s financials, which then affect its reputation and potentially even its stock price–just look at the UK fashion retailer who lost a third of their market cap due to a spreadsheet error! 

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But the risks of human error go far beyond typos and data entry mistakes as using the wrong formula can have equally devastating effects–not only could it cost your client a lot of money, but you could even lose the client due to bad advice!

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Taxes are a burden but tax planning doesn’t have to be

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Using spreadsheets for tax planning is a common trap for many practices, full of manual calculations and data entry for bespoke personal taxes. While the spreadsheet may have been capable during the early days (or the only tool available at the time), the spreadsheets didn’t grow with the practice and they have now become a significant limiting factor that drains time, resources, and morale.

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Top challenges of manual processes

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• Time-consuming
• Prone to errors and inconsistencies
• Manual updates require constant attention
• Lack of collaboration and visibility across the firm
• Higher risk of missed opportunities for tax optimisation

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The biggest problems with spreadsheets for taxes

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At its basis, spreadsheets are optimised for storing, organising, and analysing data. This means they weren’t designed for tax planning, which requires multiple data sources, scenario planning, and complex, personalised calculations that vary depending on every client. 

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The fact that so many businesses try to use spreadsheets for tax planning is akin to jamming a square peg into a round hole until you force it to stick–with many thinking it’s not a perfect fit but as long as it holds, it’s good enough. But it’s not good enough, not anymore, and it hasn’t been for a long time (if ever).

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The trap here is that spreadsheets can often handle some, or even most, of what you need them to do. But they work just enough that they don’t count as broken, so you don’t have to worry about fixing it. And then next year, it’s simply rinse and repeat.

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Spreadsheets: Most Common Complaints and Pain Points

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• Outdated data: Requires manual updates, leaving room for error.
• Lack of automation: No way to automate repetitive tax tasks or forecasting.
• Lack of visibility: Hard for firms (and their clients) to see the big picture or multiple scenarios at once 
• Increased risk: Human error can lead to costly mistakes or missed opportunities in tax efficiency.

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Enter Tax Torch: A light in a dark tunnel

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As accountants ourselves, we have witnessed first-hand the many frustrations firms and clients have experienced when tax planning and the problems of over-relying on spreadsheets to do it. 

It’s why we created Tax Torch to change the game of tax planning, with special features that address the many problems we just covered. 

Here’s what you can expect from Tax Torch:

• Cloud-based planning:
  • Empowers you to manage the tax planning process from data entry to scenario analysis.
  • Works proactively to keep you current as you plan for the future. 
  • Means no more looking backwards for personal taxes.
• Scenario planning:
  • Allows you to easily model multiple best and worst-case tax scenarios to future-proof your firm.
  • Enables you to tailor tax planning to each client in less time.
• Collaboration:
  • Centralises data in a unified platform to foster collaboration and greater visibility within the business.
  • Ensures accurate, faster results for bespoke personal tax planning.
• Efficiency gains:
  • Reduces the time spent on tax planning, so founders/directors can focus on running the business, not managing spreadsheets.

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Ditch your tax spreadsheets for good with Tax Torch

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With built-in automation, scenario planning, and collaborative tools, Tax Torch makes tax planning easy with greater accuracy, time savings, and the ability to scale.

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Discover how to deliver bespoke personal tax planning without the headaches. Join the waiting list today and be the first to see for yourself just how easy it is to leave the spreadsheets behind!

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