How long for an accountant to fill in a tax return?

[simondolan]

I recently provided by accountant (SJD) with all the details needed to fill in my personal tax return.

This is the first year I have had an accountant and in the past I have always just done it myself (my tax return isn’t exactly complicated!)

SJD have informed me that they have a 2 month backlog on personal tax returns. My question is whether this delay is normal for an accountant or should I kick up a fuss? My initial opinion was that this is a bit rubbish – it will almost be xmas should they come back with any queries!

Well, we do ask clients to provide all the info we require to complete the Tax Returns by 30th September each year - evidently in this case it was either late or just up to the wire, so if you were concerned about any aspect of the Return then I would suggest next year getting the info to us sooner - we do send out reminders regularly by both text and email asking for the info from April onwards.

I would expect that quoting you 2 months was as much to manage expectations as much as anything else- I dare say you will get it back much quicker than that.

I'd also point out that we have 8 offices, so the 2 months you say you were quoted by one could just as easily be 2 days from another - all depends on workloads at the time you ask, but anyone in our offices would be happy to accomodate you if you have any reason as to why you would need the Return sooner.

[xoggoth]

You don't send anything with a tax return. They will get back to you if are unlucky enough to get yours looked into.

You don't "get" tax credit, it is a notional 10% assumed to have been covered by the company's CT payments. If higher rate tapayer you may have to pay more, that is worked out on tax return.

[Ashwin2007]

By the way, should we be attaching Dividend vouchers (for tax credit) along with the tax return? I have over 40 of them issued by Giant..

[Gonzo]

I recently provided by accountant (SJD) with all the details needed to fill in my personal tax return.

This is the first year I have had an accountant and in the past I have always just done it myself (my tax return isn’t exactly complicated!)

SJD have informed me that they have a 2 month backlog on personal tax returns. My question is whether this delay is normal for an accountant or should I kick up a fuss? My initial opinion was that this is a bit rubbish – it will almost be xmas should they come back with any queries!

When will they be submitting your tax return to the Inland Revenue?

I am going to owe a large wad of extra cash this year so I don't want mine going to HMRC until the last possible minute.

[dude69]

Agree with above, DIY. You should know salary and expenses from your April forms, rest is from savings account statements, divi vouchers etc.

which you'd have to provide to the accountant anyway. The maths is done for you online.

[xoggoth]

Agree with above, DIY. You should know salary and expenses from your April forms, rest is from savings account statements, divi vouchers etc. You should already have all the necessary figures on bits of paper somewhere.

[Zorba]

for £1340/year I'd expect prompt service to do something as trivial as this.

This is why I do not pay monthly fees to accountants, because I have no patience for paying for service far worse than I'd get by doing it myself.

I suspect you are an exception. Many people, myself included, get a lot of comfort from a pair of professional eyes going over the figures first. Perhaps in ten years time I'll feel better about doing it myself but certainly not now.

To answer the OP, they do get a backlog every year, and every year they ask for people to submit them by August if possible, and every year people like me leave it until the middle of October :-)

[dude69]

When did you ask SJD to complete it? Was this as part of an overall service or an ad hoc request? When did they request the details be provided?

As long as it is completed in time I don't really see a problem. What were you expecting?

for £1340/year I'd expect prompt service to do something as trivial as this.

This is why I do not pay monthly fees to accountants, because I have no patience for paying for service far worse than I'd get by doing it myself.

[dude69]

Is it me or is it suspicious that 2 people both with the same type number and reallly generic both post fairly quickly to a thread slagging SJD.

My suspicion monitor is going off.

i assume these posts have now been deleted????

or have i missed something?

[Crossroads]

I recently provided by accountant (SJD) with all the details needed to fill in my personal tax return.

This is the first year I have had an accountant and in the past I have always just done it myself (my tax return isn’t exactly complicated!)

SJD have informed me that they have a 2 month backlog on personal tax returns. My question is whether this delay is normal for an accountant or should I kick up a fuss? My initial opinion was that this is a bit rubbish – it will almost be xmas should they come back with any queries!

When did you ask SJD to complete it? Was this as part of an overall service or an ad hoc request? When did they request the details be provided?

As long as it is completed in time I don't really see a problem. What were you expecting?

[Sockpuppet]

Is it me or is it suspicious that 2 people both with the same type number and reallly generic both post fairly quickly to a thread slagging SJD.

My suspicion monitor is going off.

[max]

I recently provided by accountant (SJD) with all the details needed to fill in my personal tax return.

This is the first year I have had an accountant and in the past I have always just done it myself (my tax return isn’t exactly complicated!)

SJD have informed me that they have a 2 month backlog on personal tax returns. My question is whether this delay is normal for an accountant or should I kick up a fuss? My initial opinion was that this is a bit rubbish – it will almost be xmas should they come back with any queries!

When is it due to be submitted?

[dude69]

I recently provided by accountant (SJD) with all the details needed to fill in my personal tax return.

This is the first year I have had an accountant and in the past I have always just done it myself (my tax return isn’t exactly complicated!)

SJD have informed me that they have a 2 month backlog on personal tax returns. My question is whether this delay is normal for an accountant or should I kick up a fuss? My initial opinion was that this is a bit rubbish – it will almost be xmas should they come back with any queries!

It's bad service, and it's not normal. But it makes no difference to you, because there's no advantage in submitting now rather than in two months (and if there's tax to pay, you'd be better off paying it as late as possible).

Personally I don't see why you need to pay someone to do your tax return, it's pretty simple to do yourself online. A week's turnaround time tops, seems like more than reasonable for them to do something like this to me.

They do seem to charge quite a lot, and for the money you aren't getting a satisfactory level of service. Quite how they can have a 2 month backlog, when things should surely only get busier as the deadline is rather worrying.

I am sure they will come on here justifying themselves now though, just a shame you never get to hear it BEFORE they start panicking about bad publicity.

[Sockpuppet]

Do the fecker yourself then. its not rocket science. Took me 10 mins if that online.

It has to be done by Jan so could be a bit close if SJD do it.

[contractor58]

I recently provided by accountant (SJD) with all the details needed to fill in my personal tax return.

This is the first year I have had an accountant and in the past I have always just done it myself (my tax return isn’t exactly complicated!)

SJD have informed me that they have a 2 month backlog on personal tax returns. My question is whether this delay is normal for an accountant or should I kick up a fuss? My initial opinion was that this is a bit rubbish – it will almost be xmas should they come back with any queries!