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“Instead of acting hastily, let’s think strategically” The pandemic has affected many especially small business owners. The lockdowns, border closures, trade restrictions and confinement measures have challenged the profits of businesses and their owners. Many business owners have to consider their bottom line, and in doing this, have to cut their operational costs. One of which is bookkeeping and accounts. However, even in this pandemic, businesses still have to file tax returns, maintain books, file accounts and have a record of VAT returns. Financial and cash flow management is still the key in this crisis, help from a qualified accountant is necessary and you still need guidance for new regulations and incentives such as the extension in furlough schemes and low-interest business loans. With all that is happening, it is easy to get confused. COST CUTTING & THE PANDEMIC: It is important to note and understand how businesses have coped globally during this crisis. A few of the efficient ways to curtain costs are; Budget & Expense Management Work from Home Program Involving Freelancers Employee Management – (Reduce overtime, employees, salaries)“Even in crisis, companies need to spend money to make money, ensuring the total visibility of expense and complete control over budget will go a long way toward ensuring money’s worth.”  ACCOUNT EASE & THE PANDEMIC: How is Account Ease helping businesses overcome their need to reduce accounting and bookkeeping costs, and still get quality service? This is because of our business model. Account-Ease is a collaboration of a team of Cloud Accountants in UK.  With the increased use of cloud accounting software’s such as Xero, Sage 50, QuickBooks we operate virtually. When there is no need for a physical office, we are able to cut high fixed costs, this in return is contributed back to our clients in terms of reduced fees. How does Account Ease save? We are a Cloud-based Accounting Service We work remotely (physical presence not required) & We require scanned Documents only We believe in providing high-quality service at an affordable price. BE SAFE! Account-Ease provides a Covid safe environment by letting our clients stay at home and stay safe. There is no need to bring heaps of paper and invoices to our office. You either just mail it to us or send scanned documents, we will do the rest. Grow with Account-Ease: Saving Time – Bookkeeping is a very time consuming and boring task. The good thing is we love doing it so you do not have to. Tax Return – Filing a proper tax return is necessary to avoid penalties and fines. We are very efficient in doing it. Up to Date Books – Real-time accounting is necessary for the current pandemic. If you know where you stand, you will be able to take calculative decisions. SERVICE OFFERINGS: Day to day bookkeeping services (also weekly and monthly) Annual accounts and Tax Filing Self-Assessment Tax returns VAT Services Payroll Services Management Accounting This Pandemic has forced every organization for cost-cutting globally, and every organization either it’s a startup, a small business or a Multi they must maintain their books as its compulsive. “Grow with Account-Ease” To learn more Email: askus@account-ease.co.uk Call: 0208 133 4599  

“You Focus on Your Business & Let us Focus on Your Bookkeeping” Launching your idea or already having one business. It takes passion and persistence to get where you are today! If you are a startup or a small business owner and you need to maintain your financial books, you have reached the right click, “Account  Ease”. Here we are to support you on the ‘Bookkeeping crash course’ at Account Ease. A Successful Business relies on the best Bookkeeping Terms – here “Account Ease” will help you to maintain your books in a simpler way and driving your focus towards business success. AE will take you round the clock with What bookkeeping is, Why bookkeeping matters, and the basic steps for your business bookkeeping. Introduction to Bookkeeping: A process of tracking and recording day-to-day all company’s financial transactions. How business is spending money, how revenue is generated, and which tax deductions can be claimed. In a simpler way, it’s the process to maintain books physically or through Account Ease. Why Bookkeeping Matters? Bookkeeping is important to maintain your financial records, many businesses due to poor bookkeeping fail to implement this process as their integral part which leads to failure in their business. Purpose of Bookkeeping: How to START Bookkeeping? Step 01: Separate Business and Personal Expenses. Make sure that your business and personal transactions are not intertwined. WHY? Running a business with not having the difference between your personal & business finances, then there is a clear chance to be held liable for any debt incurred by your business. This leads to stress while filing your taxes or doing bookkeeping. The collapse of both will lead to a legal problem and either way you end up losing money. Step 02: Single Entry vs Double Entry. Here you have a two-way choice of the bookkeeping system. Single Entry & Double Entry System. Double entry is a bit complex but a well-specified system of accounting that completely tracks how your cash flow generates revenue & how the business is doing its expenditures. Every transaction is recorded twice, as Debit & Credit according to the nature of your transaction. For e.g. Buying a new laptop for your business costing £1000, the transaction will be recorded two-way Debit & Credit, Debit for Laptop considered as Asset & Credit for Paying Cash. In a Single entry, you record your transactions once as they happen, it’s less complicated. If your business is a sole proprietorship with no inventory and no employees, you use a single entry method & if your business setup is well established then you follow the double-entry method. Step 03: Accounting Method: Cash & Accrual. Choosing between Cash & Accrual Method. Under Cash accounting, transactions are recorded when revenue is received. It is when you deposit the cheque into your bank account against your customer bill. Under the accrual basis, you record revenue when it’s earned from the customer even when money hasn’t exchanged hands. For small businesses or startups, you opt for the cash method. However, if your business is well established earning more than five million in revenue and investments on a bigger scale you use the accrual method. Step 04: Choose the Right Tool. Choose the process, will it be managed manually or through a bookkeeping system AE Accounting Solutions Step 05: Categorize Transactions. Categorizing your transactions helps in the classification of your transactions and maintains the audit of your business. Not all transactions are equally tax-deductible, knowing what you’re spending on office supplies versus what you’re spending on meals. Step 06: Storing Documents Storing your documents is the crucial step of showing your validity at the time of Tax. Storing documents for bookkeeping, today there’s a lot more to it. Nowadays, HMRC accepts digital records, as inks on receipts invoices never remain the same forever. The financial record shall be kept for three years. AE Bookkeeping Services is the best gateway to it. Step 07: Make it a habit For the betterment of your future Business, keep Bookkeeping a habit – the smart financial insights into your business, every month of the year will result in saving a lot of your time and unrequited headache at the time of Tax season. With Account Ease having a detailed insight on Bookkeeping, here you go to have the decision on doing the bookkeeping on your own or right away outsource the work to the professionals. Managing on your own will be Time-consuming, stressful due to single-handed and will take your focus from business away. Ready to outsource your Bookkeeping Outsource it to the professionals – “Account Ease” the Best Bookkeeping services in UK. The solution to save your time, having more focused and growing business and being audited the right way, the finest way. We have successfully completed bookkeeping for thousands of small businesses. We will love to serve you at our best. Happy Bookkeeping!!

The yearly deadline of Self-Assessment Tax Return and paying any tax owed is midnight on 31st January every year. While most independently employed people these days decide to document their Self-Assessments Tax Return online, it’s as yet conceivable to do so the old way – through paper-forms. Submitting a Self-Assessment is prior, and HMRC should get this by 28th February this year. On the off chance that you don’t document your return and pay any duty due on schedule, you’ll face fines – and there are possible additional penalties. Delay doesn’t as well, ensure you present your return before the cutoff time and pay any duty you owe with whatever data you have accessible – regardless of whether you need to consequently revise your assessment form. This is the month which is the busiest month to submit yourself self-assessment tax returns and if you haven’t submitted your tax return then this is the time to take action and submit your return and pay any tax you have before the 28th February 2021. The government has extended the date of the self-assessment tax return from 31st January to 28th February 2021, Due to this extended lockdown and accountants are working very hard with their clients to make sure they submit the self –assessment tax returns on time so there are no penalties they will receive at the later stage, (Deadline of Self-assessment Tax return is 28th February) but if you want to submit your self-assessment tax returns you simply contact Account-Ease or Visit our website. What if you miss the deadline of Self-Assessment Tax Return? If you’ve missed the Self-Assessment Tax Return time you truly need to continue ahead with it at the earliest opportunity – our article helps you how to file your Self-Assessment Tax Returns timely. The fines and interest will simply keep developing, so you need to document and pay any exceptional expense as quickly as possible. In case you have registered already for Self-Assessment Tax Return online, all you require is financial data for the significant tax year, for example, your yearly accounts, invoices and costs, and additionally P60, in addition to details of investment profit, reserve funds interest, pensions, commitments, and so forth It is conceivable to correct your return after it’s been documented, so you should record on the web, straightaway with the data you have, regardless of whether you are feeling the loss of some data. If you have not registered then you can check our article on How to complete your self assessment tax return.  On the off chance that you’re not enrolled at this point, you need to begin this cycle immediately – however, it can require a few days, if not weeks, to enlist as HMRC needs to send you an enactment code in the post. You can set the ball moving by visiting HMRC’s site. If you miss the deadline to submit the tax returns, and now you got the penalty, go for the appeal a penalty, YES, you can appeal the penalty. This will require a genuine and reasonable excuse. Excuses Examples:       Illness or death of a relative, partner, or yourself.       Crash or failure of software or computer, while preparing for online tax return.       Natural disaster or theft.       HMRC online services issues. Now you have to contact Account-Ease as soon as possible. They can help you set up a payment plan. Each year 31st January is the deadline to submit tax returns but for this time government has changed the deadline because of COVID-19 Extended Lockdown. Are there any penalties if I miss the deadline?   There is a 100 penalty if your self-assessment tax return is up to 3 months late.   A further 300 penalty will be issued after 6 months, and 12 months.   HMRC will charge interest on any late Payments   There is also a daily penalty charge, up to 900  At Account Ease, we’re experts. So you can trust us to make your self-assessment tax return as worry-free as it can be. Our experts are certified and professionals and will take care of you. With Account-Ease it not take too long to submit your self-assessment tax return. Just visit this page and choose the affordable package and get started. Contact Account-Ease to get more Details. Call: 0208 133 4599 | Email: askus@account-ease.co.uk  

If you have just chosen to go for self-employment or you’re doing extra work for your main job, then you will definitely think about a self-assessment tax return. In the scenario that you never needed to finish one, your first time could be a digit distressing, however, don’t stress – we’re here to explain the cycle. In case you’re uncertain whether you need to finish a Self-Assessment then it is for you to know that any individual who gets pay that isn’t charged at source needs to finish a Self-Assessment. In case you’re a sole broker, in a business association, or an organization chief, you should record a return. In case, you get a notification for Self-Assessment from HMRC, it is necessary for you to finish it. There are various reasons as to why you may have to finish a Self-Assessment. You can discover more in our article, “Do I need to finish a Self-Assessment expense form?” What is a Self-Assessment and how to complete your Self-Assessment? Every year millions of people in the UK have to complete a Self-Assessment by the 31st of January. This involves completing a Self-Assessment (or Form SA100) and is usually done online. Though it’s still possible to file in the old fashioned way that is with a paper form. Self-Assessment is HMRC’s way of finding out how much Income Tax and National Insurance you need to pay. Employees have their Income Tax deducted automatically from their employment income through the PAYE system – this doesn’t happen for self-employed workers, and for some other types of incomes;  such as dividends, pensions, or income from savings and investments, which is where the Self-Assessment comes in. Consider the possibility that I’m simply doing a touch of work as an afterthought. Outsourcing as an afterthought is a famous method of enhancing your pay. Many decide to keep it from their managers. In any case, you may not need your manager to think about your secondary work but, you can’t conceal it from the taxman, so you’ll have to enroll as independently employed. You’ll have to finish a Self-Assessment so the taxman realizes exactly how much additional pay you’ve procured, and how much if the duty you need to pay on top of your regularly scheduled PAYE charge. Ideally, individuals who began contracting to outsource or got independently employed before the start of the last expense year (sixth April 2020) will for now be approaching Self-Assessment cutoff time on 31st January 2021. However for the individuals who are new to the game, here’s the important data you’ll have to plan. Registering with HMRC To enlist with HMRC and reveal to them you need to present a Self-Assessment expense form. You should enlist by fifth October. After the assessment year ends you will need to record an expense form – for instance, if you need to petition for the 2019/20 duty year, you should enroll by fifth October 2020. In case you miss this cutoff time, you may need to take care of a punishment. You can enlist on the web, by post, or by telephone – also ensure you should give yourself enough time before that cut-off time to deal with things if anything turns out badly. To enlist, you’ll need you’re: Public Insurance number Individual and business subtleties. After you’ve enlisted, HMRC will send you a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number in the post. You are to utilize your UTR to enroll for HMRC Online Services. HMRC will at that point send you a PIN number by post to get you to Online Services where you can document your Self-Assessment. This exhausting cycle should become less complex when HMRC turns out online duty administrations, yet for the present, you’re dependent on Royal Mail and HMRC to get enlisted. You can become familiar with Self-Assessment enrollment and precise record-keeping in our language free business management. Once you’re enrolled, you won’t have to re-register again. You’ll get a yearly suggestion to document your Self-Assessment until you disclose to HMRC that you, now, don’t have to record; maybe in light of the fact that you’re getting back to everyday work or moved to another country, for instance. The advantages of documenting your Self-Assessment on the web We firmly suggest that you enroll for web-based documenting and you give yourself a lot of time before the cutoff time and that you likewise complete and record your Self-Assessment, utilizing the internet for help (or by getting a bookkeeper to do it for you on the web). The primary advantages of recording on the web are: The Deadline for online Self-Assessment is later than the time allocated for paperwork – paper returns should be put together by October 31st while the cutoff time for online entries is January 31st for each expense year Online government forms are promptly recognized by HMRC so there’s no stress over your Self-Assessment return, losing all sense of direction in the post. The assessment and National Insurance commitments you owe are consequently determined for you by HMRC. So, you can change installments. You can, without much of a stretch, save or print a duplicate for your records. You can check your record; whenever to see what burden you owe and any past assessment installments you’ve made.  What next? Instructions to pay your Self-Assessment charge bill. HMRC will reveal to you how much expense you owe. After that, you hand over the money, generally by means of Direct Debit or bank move (the full rundown of how you can pay is on the Gov.UK site). Something final to recall is that since January 2018 it is not conceivable to utilize an individual MasterCard to pay for your Self-Assessment charge bill. The deadline for Self-Assessment Tax Return is 31st January 2021

Self Assessments Tax Returns for 2021 Self-Assessment Tax Return, In the United Kingdom, a government form is an archive that should be recorded with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) proclaiming the obligation for tax collection. Various bodies should record various gets back as for different types of tax assessment. Tax is usually deducted from pensions, salary, and wages. Who can send a tax return? You should send an expense form if, in the last assessment year (6 April to 5 April), you were: Independently employed as a ‘sole trader’ and earned more than £1,000 (prior to taking off anything you can guarantee charge alleviation on). an accomplice in a business association You won’t normally have to send a return if your solitary pay is from your wages or benefits. In any case, you may have to send one on the off chance that you have some other untaxed pay, for example, Cash from renting out a property. Tips and commission. Pay from reserve funds, and profits. Foreign income. Sending & Registering a Tax Return If you didn’t send a tax return last year then apply this time. Here are the steps to register: Sole Trader or a Self-Employed Non-Self Employed Applying a partnership or partner In case you’re new to Self-Assessment, you’ll need to keep records (for instance bank proclamations or receipts) so you can fill in your government form effectively. Sending your Tax Return Whenever you’ve enlisted, you can send your government form on the web, or utilize business programming or paper structures. You at that point need to cover your tab by the cutoff time. Using Commercial Applications or Paper forms You can send a return utilizing commercial applications or paper structures. You should use one of these choices to send returns: for an association for trust and home/estate in case you get payment from a trust on the off chance that you lived abroad as a non-resident in case you’re a Lloyd’s guarantor in case you’re a religious person To report benefits made on selling or discarding more than one resource (‘chargeable increases’) You should utilize a paper structure on the off chance that you need to send an assessment form for trustees of enrolled benefits plans (SA970). The last time for paper structures is 31 October (or 31 January in case you’re a trustee of an enrolled benefits plot or a non-occupant organization). Deadlines for Self-Assessment Tax Return: HMRC – HM Revenue and Customs, must get your tax returns and money you owe by the deadline. Last Year it is stated on April 6, 2019, to April 5, 2020. Because of COVID-19, you can make your second payment on account delayed. And you’ll not be charged any penalties before January 31, 2021. When the deadline is different Submit your online return by 30 December on the off chance that you need HMRC to naturally gather the charge you owe from your wages and annuity. You should be qualified. HMRC should get a paper expense form by 31 January in case you’re a trustee of an enlisted benefits plot or a non-occupant organization. You can’t send a return on the web. HMRC may likewise email or keep in touch with you giving you an alternate cutoff time. Organization returns on the off chance that you have an organization as an accomplice On the off chance that your association’s bookkeeping date is between 1 February and 5 April and one of your accomplices is a restricted organization, the cutoff time for: online returns is a year from the bookkeeping date paper returns are 9 months from the bookkeeping date 2018 to 2019 duty year and prior The Self-Assessment cutoff time for these expense years has passed. Send your government form or installment at the earliest opportunity – you’ll need to take care of a punishment. What are the Penalties? If you miss the date to send the tax return then you get the penalty of £ 100 if your tax returns are 3 months late. If more than 3 months then the penalty went high and high. Interest and Late Payments if you pay your tax returns bill late. Don’t worry you can pay your self-assessment tax return easily >> Visit Now

Paperless Bookkeeping and Accounting With business and virtually all other economic sectors now largely operating with the technological tools of the digital age, companies everywhere have gone, or are currently going paperless. The operational detriments of continuing to collect space-consuming crates of archived paper accounting records and to transmit paper documentation as a way of doing business are now too cumbersome to be economically practical for a modern business looking to work lean and increase efficiencies. But, can every business operate paperlessly? Is going paperless really the best and most practical way for every business to operate, even yours? And, is the disruption to normal work routines really something any company can manage and remain efficient in production, services, and sales during the process? Paperless Accounting Attempting to manage and report even minimal accounting activity across departments for any number of internal management purposes is increasingly inefficient in the modern digitized accounting environment. Additional burdens on efficiency are added to the business with every instance of transmitting updated accounting information and routine reporting to outside investors, tax reporting agencies, lenders, etc., on paper media. Paper-heavy companies simply cannot fit their systems seamlessly with the very automated processes that should be exploitable to serve them more quickly and accurately. Paper-Laden Business Operations Unfortunately, in today’s digitally-driven general business management environment, indexing, retrieval, electronic transmittal, and manual distribution and other sharing of sales, production, inventory, shipping, accounting, and other information on paper present serious challenges to the effective management of time and many essential quality controls. Why Should My Company Go Paperless? New paperless technologies make it, even more, inviting for companies to avoid many of the burdens of paper-heavy operations and to reduce their carbon footprint as well. Among the countless cost-saving functional benefits to operational efficiency, going paperless will help your business: Operate clutter-free— Going paperless clears great volumes of clutter from your office environment. Save money— There’s no comparison between the cost of pages of information created and stored digitally, and the same number of pages created and stored on paper. The EPA estimates that a paperless office saves approximately £80 annually per employee in expenses associated with printing and copy paper, ink and toner, postage, and file storage facilities. Multiplied by all employees in the organization, the total annual savings for any company can make it clear that paperless operation is the most practical option. Present an exemplary PR message— Operating paperless identifies your company to your prospective partners and customers as a modern, technologically evolved, ideally managed enterprise, with a highly skilled team that keeps pace with the demands of modern business technology and processes. Save time— Paperless work saves a great amount of time. It eliminates time-wasting steps of printing, filing and manually searching for paper documents. Your record retrieval process is reduced to a few mouse clicks. For many companies, this simple change across the board cuts a very significant number of wasted hours regained for other tasks that increase employees’ productivity. Better Access— Digitally storing documents in the cloud instantly makes your organization more flexible. If you have a late meeting across the city, for example, what happens when you find you need to reference a file that’s in your office? You’re stuck waiting until another day to finish your meeting, or you must carry on without the information you need. Or, you must call an employee to fax paper documents to you. With paperless operations, you can just log in, and instantly pull up your file during your meeting, and show it to your client. Saving this kind of logistical trouble, and cost to a company’s professional image are important benefits. Saved Space — If you think in terms of a single piece of paper, it doesn’t take much storage space. But, it doesn’t’ take long to accumulate many thousands of pages. Over years of operation, a business can accumulate stacks and stacks of boxes of files. These can crowd office spaces and ultimately require additional (expensive) storage space. Operating paperless frees up office closets, meeting rooms, and even whole office suites. Alternatively, digital files occupy no physical space. They can be stored on remote servers and accessed from anywhere you need them on the spot. Stronger Security— Cloud storage for documents is more secure than keeping sensitive information in paper files stored in an office. Digital documents are encrypted and protected by numerous layers of security. And, access can be restricted to only trusted file users. Also, digital files are not at risk of being lost due to fire or theft. Environmentally Sound — The average company uses over 10,000 sheets of paper every year. That’s about equal to a small tree. This means that if all businesses were paperless, a whole forest would be saved every year. The environmental benefits of going paperless are not as obvious as the time, paper and printing costs, and space savings, but they are certainly important for every business person, and his or her family, and the world in which he/she must live. Cloud accounting and Account-Ease We are a team of dedicated Bookkeepers and Accountants with qualifications such as ACCA, CIMA, ICAEW. As we work on the cloud, our team is spread across the UK, managed and supervised by qualified accountants and bookkeepers. We aim to provide efficient and reliable service to our clients. At ACCOUNT EASE we take pride in providing quality service to our clients. We use the latest in technology to make it easier for everybody and also reduce your bottom line costs. Cloud Accounting and Bookkeeping are an advanced but simple way to handle your books online from any computer, phone, or tablet from anywhere in the world. We use a variety of cloud-based software such as Xero, Kashflow, Freeagent, QB, etc. This allows us to process everything quickly and you can view most of the data on a real-time basis. We bring the “Ease of Accountancy” to you! We are accessible anywhere, any time. With the combination of cloud accounting solutions for freelancers,

6 reasons to file your tax return early! The Christmas holidays are the perfect time for everyone to unwind with their friends and family after a stressful year. This year, the festivities, in particular, arrive after a lengthy lockdown period owing to COVID-19 and should be celebrated in the best way possible. Opting to work during the holidays might seem like the last thing you would want. Still, you need to plan for your self-assessment tax returns to be filed. In this article, we discuss six reasons why you should consider letting an accounting service provider such as Account-Ease help you with your tax returns. 1. You are likely to have more time and fewer distractions Plan ahead! This Christmas spend more time with your family and loved ones. Send your data to us and let us worry about the accounts and processing your tax returns. You know better, taxes are something no business can avoid. So the sooner you get your accounts in order and calculate how much you owe the HMRC, the more time you have in hand to enable yourself to prepare for those payments, which are typically significant in amount. Therefore, contact us to help you out with that. 2. We will enable you to receive your tax refund early While this is not guaranteed to happen, the earlier you file your business tax returns, the likelier you are to receive your tax refund early if one is due to you. This means an extra influx of money during the holiday season, which will only add to the Christmas cheer. 3. You are less likely to make mistakes When you rush to file your tax returns just before the end-of-year self-assessment deadline, you are more likely to enter the wrong figures or accidentally leave something out. By starting earlier, you don’t need to feel hassled. The same is true for your accountant who has more time in hand to go through the books carefully, enter all the correct details, and acquire any documents you don’t have in place already. This also means that the risk of having to pay fines because of incorrect entries or late filing goes down for you. 4. You reduce your Christmas stress Christmas holidays have their versions of stress, including family tensions, preparing festive dinners, and keeping yourself occupied indoors during the pandemic. While it might not seem like fun, delegating your self-assessment tax returns can actually be a good break from family stressors and help you come back more refreshed. 5. You will enter January peacefully At the start of the new year, businesses typically have long-term goals that they look to implement. The prospect of an impending tax assessment, however, can be a dampener. By letting an accounting partner take care of it, you can devote all your energy to making a fresh start and fulfilling your business goals, rather than looking for receipts or necessary information. You also have one less burden to take care of, which improves your peace of mind and boosts your motivation to sketch out plans that will take your business to the next level in the New Year. 6. You have time to ask for help if needed Preparing and filing your self-assessment forms can be complicated and time-consuming, particularly when you have other critical tasks to take care of or simply want to spend more time with your family. Starting the process early lets you decide how much time you will need to devote to it, whether you need to pick the right service provider for the job quickly. Accounting experts who handle outsourced jobs have all the experience, technology and know-how needed to complete your self-assessments accurately and on time, leaving you free to focus on other things. Enjoy Christmas; Hire Account-Ease While the Christmas holidays should be a much-needed break for you, making some progress on your self-assessment can actually reduce your stress in the long run and help you kick start the New Year with vigor and aplomb. So if you are looking to save some extra time and give yourself a break at Christmas, you can always send your self-assessments to an accounting service provider like us who will do it accurately for you at a competitive price. Simply call us on 0208 133 4599 or drop us a line at askus@account-ease.co.uk to learn how we can reduce your self-assessment burden during the holiday season.    

Get Ready for Self-Assessment Tax Season! The tax season is a hectic time for everyone, everywhere, and late nights and back-and-forth client calls are normal.  This year is going to be even busier as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, where you will already be dealing with the new complexities that have entered your workload, and clients will require extra advisory services to understand these changes. While this does make the self-assessment tax season one of the most challenging yet, here is how you can ace the upcoming tax season and also keep your team healthy and motivated: 1. Start your planning right now Do not leave everything to the last minute. All too often, accountants leave the document collection and client chasing for invoices until the last minute and then scramble to complete everything on time. Instead, start planning for the self-assessment tax season as soon as you can.  It’s never too early to start. 2. Create a process for your clients to provide you with information Get a head start by asking your accountant to send you a list of documents you need for compiling your data. Your accountant should design a simple process whereby you can share the information you need without trouble. 3. Get your money’s worth You should be confident that the accounting firm which is charging you the full price is worth the price. After all – their practice staff should be good at their job. The accountant needs to highlight the shortfalls in your self-assessments. 4. Do you not like Accounting? You do not need to like or enjoy accounting. Account-Ease is here to help. We love accounting so you do not need to. You need to sit back and relax and send in all your relevant data to us and we will take care of it with pleasure. 5. Focus on your needs Every client wants to pay lower taxes. While wrapping up their self-assessment tax returns for this year, therefore, you should aim to take some time out and discuss with your accountant your future tax-saving strategies. Life events such as divorce, death, or business mergers might have tax implications for you. Of course, these are just examples, but having regular contact will help you manage your finances and liabilities better. Make sure if it is relevant, you talk to them about how you can benefit from schemes such as the Coronavirus Business Loan Interruption Scheme (CBLIS) or the COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) as launched by the UK government to keep businesses afloat. Summing it up The self-assessment tax season is stressful, indeed, hence, follow the tips mentioned above and hire Account-Ease to let you breathe easy. Call us on 0208 133 4599 or email us at askus@account-ease.co.uk to learn more about our services and how we can help you.  

COVID-19: 5 key steps for accountants to guide businesses through the crisis Accountants – many of whom are small practitioners themselves – are trusted advisors for Small Businesses, Freelancers, Startups, and Contractors. The corona crisis is a critical time where businesses need all the guidance they can get to navigate through the storm.   Accountancy practices are helping businesses navigate through these difficult times. Following are some of the services and options Accountants and Accountancy practices are giving to businesses: 1. Informing clients of all the aid options Accountants should and most are aware of all the financial and other forms of aid provided by the national government. Accountancy bodies are coming up with the best practices for countries to assist them in policymaking. 2. Applying and documenting the available aid for your clients Identify clients in high-risk sectors and those that would benefit most from public support measures. Help them by: Advising on, and guiding through, all the claims available to them Identifying options to diversify their business Accessing emergency financing provided by governments If possible, consider re-negotiating your fees and payment schedules with them 3. Help with immediate business survival Accountants are and should inform clients of immediate measures that might make the difference between survival and collapse. And help them implement these, for example, to: Access the reliefs on offer Review and adjust their cash flow forecasts Consider the business model  Understand their supply chains and plan for the supply of products and services to get disrupted. Check their insurance and whether they are eligible for a claim for any financial losses. Communicate with their staff to discuss the possibility of short term pay cuts. Ensure that their financials are up to date Renegotiate their payment terms with suppliers and help them communicate with their bank should they be unable to meet loan commitments. Negotiate with their debtors, for example, to offer discounts in exchange for early payment. Continually monitor the situation  If all else fails, consider the insolvency options as it may be possible to rescue viable businesses by debt reorganization rather than be forced into full liquidation.