Making compliance more manageable in 2024 with Xero Tax

This content is brought to you by Xero.

With a new tax year on the horizon, you might be wondering how to make your 2024 workload more manageable.

As the UK tax system continues to evolve – through aspects like Basis Period Reform and Companies House Reform – practices will need to do even more with their already-stretched time.

And while we can’t conjure up an extra hour or two in the day, it is possible to make time savings with the right tax compliance tools and software.

In this guide, we show you how Xero Tax can simplify and streamline your compliance practices for company and individual clients.

The right tools for the job

A new tax year is the perfect opportunity to enhance your practice processes for the year ahead. Changes you make over the next few months can have a knock-on effect for the next set of client accounts and returns. Setting up the right software can streamline busy seasons and simplify daily practice tasks.

Xero Tax (free for Xero partners) is connected accounts production and tax software that you can use with company and individual clients. With the ability to manage tax returns all in one place and share accurate secure data, you can do away with disconnected and inefficient tools, swapping them for a streamlined way to manage your bookkeeping, accounts and tax in a single platform.

There’s never been a better time to start using Xero Tax. There are a range of new features that make Xero Tax even more useful, scaleable, and efficient for practices and clients alike.

For company accounts, Xero connects with Companies House so you can retrieve data and file accounts. Here’s a closer look at some recent updates for company accounts and tax:

• Supporting the CT600L: Increased support for your research and development-intensive clients, with the CT600L for Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC).
• Non-trade capital allowances: Say hello to more functionality for property clients – with a non-trade capital allowance section where you can claim non-trade capital allowances on your clients’ behalf for non-trade property.

For sole traders, Xero Tax can produce unincorporated accounts and populate the relevant income schedule. Here’s a look at some recent updates:

• Closer Xero integration: We’ve added a direct import from Xero that will allow you to import sole trader income and expense data directly from an organisation, supporting both cash basis and accrual accounting.
• HMRC import: You can now download HMRC reports for your clients while completing personal tax returns. The report includes other employment data, pension income, state benefits, NIC, and marriage allowance. Just another way you can support clients with even more useful data. 
• New schedules: We now support all boxes on the SA106 Foreign income schedule, plus we’ve added the SA107 (Trusts etc) supplementary page – so personal tax now supports all the primary supplementary self assessment pages.

We’re committed to building the right tax solution for accountants and bookkeepers, with Partnership Tax coming soon! 

One of the trickiest aspects of compliance is managing obligations and deadlines across multiple taxes. Having a clear view of what’s completed versus what’s outstanding can help you prioritise tasks and manage practice workloads more effectively. Without a clear view of client obligations, you’ll struggle to quantify just how much work your practice has to do.

Our new tax manager gives you a real-time view of client obligations and deadlines. Track progress and see what’s outstanding for company tax, company accounts, personal tax, and VAT. Tax manager is available to all Xero partners in Xero HQ, at no additional cost.

We’re continuously updating Xero Tax in line with feedback from our accountants and bookkeepers, so that Xero products are fit for your needs today and in the future.

New tax year, better tax approach

If you want to make the new tax year a success, it’s time to start planning your approach.

Will you choose a stack of standalone tools that don’t speak to each other? Or swap them for a single system that enables you to manage compliance in one place.

Xero Tax enables you to streamline your tax offering and serve clients with a single system. Your whole team can work from Xero Tax at the same time – with unlimited users and cloud-based storage, you no longer need to wait for a colleague to finish their tasks before signing on to complete yours.

Say goodbye to expensive licences and single tools for single processes. Xero Tax comes at no extra cost for accountants and bookkeepers on the Xero partner programme. 

Xero Tax integrates seamlessly with other Xero tools – so you don’t need to duplicate manual data entry. Bookkeeping data automatically filters through to Xero Tax and populates accounts and returns, that you can send for e-signature, and then file directly to HMRC and Companies House.

Getting sign off is simple too. Using document packs, clients can sign off documents, accounts, and returns within Xero (without you having to manually chase them for signatures). Multiple layers of security keep your team and client information secure.

Get your practice and clients ready for increasing digital transformation over the next few years – such as software-only filing for Companies House, and MTD for Income Tax. Xero Tax enables you to file complaint accounts and returns today, and our continued support and platform updates mean we’re getting ahead on future regulatory change too.

But don’t just take our word for it. Scott Davenport, Tax Director at Davenports Group had this to say:

“With Xero Tax I can give simpler tax returns to another member of my team, they can put these into Xero Tax, and I can just review them. I get the feeling we’re saving about 50 to 55% of our time using Xero Tax compared to the software we used before. I think anyone who tries it will see the benefit of Xero Tax.”

Start making the new tax year smoother by adopting Xero Tax in your practice today.

This content is brought to you by Xero.

Xero offers a cloud-based accounting software platform for small and medium-sized businesses..