Self-assessment filing and payment
A 31 January return and payment for every client in self-assessment, with the 31 July payment on account following six months later.
For accountants
The compliance year of an accountant, worked ahead of the deadline
Every client in the practice carries their own filing dates, and the paperwork behind those dates arrives late, in the busiest weeks of the year.
No account needed to see the proposed desk.
The recurring work
What accountants have to keep on top of
Every one of these has a date attached, a document behind it, and somebody who notices when it slips. This is what goes on the desk.
VAT returns
Quarterly returns and payments for each VAT-registered client, landing on staggered quarter ends rather than one shared date.
Companies House confirmation statement
One annual filing per limited company, due on the incorporation anniversary rather than the accounting reference date.
Corporation tax return
A CT600 with statutory accounts filed at Companies House in the same window, while the tax itself is payable earlier.
Payroll RTI submissions
A full payment submission on or before each pay day, with an employer payment summary where a claim applies.
Anti-money-laundering supervision renewal
Annual renewal with the supervisory body, including the fee and evidence that client due diligence is being carried out.
Professional indemnity renewal
Cover that has to be in force before practice renewal with the institute or supervisory body, with the certificate kept on file.
CPD hours for the professional body
A logged annual total, declared at membership renewal rather than tidied up at the end of the year.
Client engagement letters
A signed letter held for each client, refreshed whenever the scope, the fee basis or the client's structure changes.
Agent authorisations
Authorisation and re-authorisation for Making Tax Digital as clients switch software, bookkeeper or company number.
What it costs to carry it
The dates are not the difficulty. The difficulty is that the bank statements, dividend vouchers and signed approvals arrive late, so the chase runs in the same weeks as the filings. A confirmation statement missed by a day becomes a penalty and a client phone call, and a lapsed supervisory renewal stops the practice taking on new clients until it is restored.
What the desk takes over
The desk works this list to its own schedule and reports what it did.
The filing calendar
Every client deadline held in one list with its period, its authority and its filing reference recorded against it.
The document chase
Requests for statements, vouchers, receipts and signed approvals, sent and followed up until each file is complete.
Renewal paperwork
Supervisory body renewal, indemnity cover and CPD declarations prepared with the supporting evidence attached for signature.
The early warning
Anything at risk of slipping surfaced with time to act, rather than in the week it falls due.
The record
A dated note of what was filed, when, and with which authority, ready the day a client or inspector asks.
What stays with the accountant
The judgement stays with the accountant: the treatment, the advice, the sign-off. The desk moves documents and watches dates, and stops short of deciding what a transaction means or putting a name to a set of accounts.
Questions
Can the desk file the returns itself?
It prepares the filing and works the date until the work is done. Where an authority needs an agent credential or a signature, that step is handed over with the file ready.
How does the desk know each client's deadlines?
The list is proposed from what the practice does and the client base, then corrected by the accountant. Each item carries its own period end, authority and reference, so a wrong date is visible rather than hidden.
Does the desk replace the practice's own tax software?
No. It works alongside the systems already in use and keeps the recurring calendar and the chase around them.
Put the accountant's recurring work on the desk
Start with a name, a website and one sentence about what the business does. The desk proposes the list; the accountant corrects it.