One aspect of my work (accountant) is that I am responsible for the personal tax returns of about fifty clients.
Part of the tax process in Ireland is that, after you send in your tax return to the Revenue, they send back a tax demand. Part of our service is to check the tax demand. If it’s correct, I write to the client (who also gets a copy of the tax demand from the Revenue) and I confirm to them that the amount to pay is correct.
If the tax demand is wrong, I write back to the Revenue telling them where it is wrong. They will issue a revised demand (if they agree with me) in about two weeks.
I can have ten to fifteen of these demands coming in close together (they all come in early Feb each year).
This is my first tax year in this job. Checking the return and dictating a reply should normally take no more than twenty minutes, but I am only getting to know the clients situations, so it can take about three quarters of an hour to deal with each.
I know exactly what to do. I hardly need to write down a NA. But the question is where is the best place to keep the demands until I deal with them?
Although fifteen demands constitute fifteen different tasks, they hardly take up any room, so it is tempting to leave them in the in-tray.
Alternatively, I could file them on their separate client files. This goes against tradition, where you don’t usually file a letter before you answer it. However, if my tasks/projects/to-do list is complete and trustworthy, I should have no fear of filing the demand away like this: it should not fall between the cracks.
It seems to me that it would be too purist to open a separate projects file for each one … but aside from using the established client file, a separate project file is the only way I can ensure it is immediately retrievable.
I think the problem includes not only tax demands, but also any correspondence that is basically an exchange of information, where the related action is little more than referring to a file, but the whole process might take up to an hour.
Anyone have similar experiences?
Thanks
Dave
Part of the tax process in Ireland is that, after you send in your tax return to the Revenue, they send back a tax demand. Part of our service is to check the tax demand. If it’s correct, I write to the client (who also gets a copy of the tax demand from the Revenue) and I confirm to them that the amount to pay is correct.
If the tax demand is wrong, I write back to the Revenue telling them where it is wrong. They will issue a revised demand (if they agree with me) in about two weeks.
I can have ten to fifteen of these demands coming in close together (they all come in early Feb each year).
This is my first tax year in this job. Checking the return and dictating a reply should normally take no more than twenty minutes, but I am only getting to know the clients situations, so it can take about three quarters of an hour to deal with each.
I know exactly what to do. I hardly need to write down a NA. But the question is where is the best place to keep the demands until I deal with them?
Although fifteen demands constitute fifteen different tasks, they hardly take up any room, so it is tempting to leave them in the in-tray.
Alternatively, I could file them on their separate client files. This goes against tradition, where you don’t usually file a letter before you answer it. However, if my tasks/projects/to-do list is complete and trustworthy, I should have no fear of filing the demand away like this: it should not fall between the cracks.
It seems to me that it would be too purist to open a separate projects file for each one … but aside from using the established client file, a separate project file is the only way I can ensure it is immediately retrievable.
I think the problem includes not only tax demands, but also any correspondence that is basically an exchange of information, where the related action is little more than referring to a file, but the whole process might take up to an hour.
Anyone have similar experiences?
Thanks
Dave