Covid-19

Everything is running slowly and chaotically thanks to Covid-19. Many HM Revenue and Customs employees are working from home, and basic processes are taking quite a bit longer. We are working slowly as well for a variety of reasons. There are a few things we can do to keep things in order :

As soon as we get information, we type or scan or copy and paste it into our system. We call this data-grabbing, and we do it to make sure nothing is obviously missing. We would look like idiots if a bank statement were missing, and we didn’t mention it until much later.

We keep little databases on spreadsheets showing all our deadlines, so we never miss anything. That’s good if you have left things to the last minute. It is not so good if you hand your records in early and are having to wait behind someone else who is apparently entitled to jump the queue ahead of you. Please let us know if there is some special reason why you would like your accounts or tax return done early. We call this deadline-chasing and it is not necessarily our normal method of working. However, when things become disorganised thanks to coronavirus then a spell of deadline-chasing makes a good way to recover.

HMRC are currently being lenient with taxpayers who are late. We do review lists of clients so we know who has to pay what, but do not worry at this stage if we are slow to contact you.

We keep a rotating card index to remind us what to do and when, and if there is an outstanding matter then your name will be pencilled in on it. We also keep a diary and make notes. It’s an academic diary with the break at the end of July when not much is happening. If an accounts deadline is coming up, then we send out a one-time authorisation code a few weeks in advance so everything can be done by e-mail. We were already fully set up for home working before coronavirus came along.