The tax season is coming near. Every tax professional is working hard to prepare for it. Despite the busy schedule through the months leading to April, take some time to read these tips that can significantly make a difference.
Table of Contents
Plan Your Time
Prioritize
Set aside some time each day to consider your schedule. Arrange the more challenging returns so that you work on them when you are at your best and have the tools and help needed to complete the task. Maximize efficiency while giving oneself a break.
Minimize Distractions
It’s important to limit distractions during the tax season. Set up two or three-time slots each day to read and respond to emails. Talking about ways to ensure that time-sensitive information is transmitted more promptly to your team. Think about using a different email account, text messages, or video chat.
Automate Using Templates
Customer Checklist
Before your client’s first visit, explain what their share of the workload is to prevent unnecessary stress as much as possible. Create a template of the required documents and actions to automate and simplify this phase so your team can efficiently and consistently prepare each customer before their initial visit.
Timetable
Create a second standardized template that generalizes the filing procedure or the approximate time a customer may expect to pick up their files to eliminate confusion and extra phone calls to check on a return’s status. This schedule can be sent to the customer at the time of the exchange of tax documents or supplied to them beforehand.
Make It Fun
Games, Tournaments, and Recreation
Add diversity to your days to boost productivity while also fostering greater problem-solving and creativity in the workplace. Games like trashcan basketball or bingo can make for simple office entertainment and are ideal ways to decompress and have fun during short breaks. Fun quiz games or raffles can strengthen relationships between you and your team members. Gift certificates to spas and fitness facilities or yoga retreats provide excellent incentives.
Food
Make sure your team has enough food and snacks to get through the day. A great benefit for every work team is the improvement of interpersonal relationships that come from sharing a meal. Consider employing a team to carry out this preparation for you if you have the funds available, but this type of planning isn’t your strong suit.
Targets and Festivities
Set and recognize goals to motivate your staff and boost output. Set clear, attainable goals in advance and monitor your progress. Remember to recognize your successes. Your staff members will appreciate being recognized for their efforts.
Free
But what if you don’t have enough money to pay for the meals and gifts? You can verbally thank someone for something by saying, “Great job! ” in an email or note. This small act costs nothing, but it makes your team feel extremely valued, especially if you personally thank them for a particular objective they helped achieve.
It Takes a Village
Distribute the Tax Burden
Divide the heavy effort of a more complex return into manageable chunks that team members can work on together. To help coworkers manage their schedules, be explicit about each person’s roles and keep them informed of the project’s status.
Employ Temporary Personnel
Maintaining your company’s standards and productivity can be done affordably by hiring temporary personnel. Temporary employees should be informed of expectations in clear terms so that everyone is on the same page. A unified assignment sheet helps facilitate a smoother transfer.
Help on the Homefront
Do not be reluctant to ask for help. You can either employ a temporary house cleaning agency or ask family members to help with the duties during this time. To maintain your sanity with a social break, ask your friends to schedule and include you in social gatherings. Build up your “community” whichever best fits you.
Rest
Take periodic eye rests while working to increase focus. Walk around the office complex or exercise at your desk by squatting and raising your calves. Concentration can be improved and it can decrease tension and anxiety with as little as seven minutes of brisk activity that modestly boosts your heart rate.
Reflect
After you’ve made it through the busiest period of your year, take a moment to breathe deeply. Consider what went well and what improvements you would like to see next year. Review our advice once more to decide which documents you should produce, what objectives you may establish for the following round, how to better split the job, and how to best use your time and resources.
source: https://ohiocpa.com/news-resources/news/2022/02/04/tax-attorneys-5-tips-for-surviving-tax-season
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