Heading into the tax season can be a synonym for a headache for some people. However, not everything is lost. If you organize your work and take this process calmly, you'll succeed and gain valuable experience for next year. In order to help you achieve this, the 17th Floor Board of Advisors member, Bianca Mueller, shares her best tips to face year-end and tax season the best way.
"The end goal is to be as productive as possible and to avoid putting yourself in a reactive situation as you work your way through year-end and tax season. Reactive responses can often take a toll on our mental health, especially when the stress involves your engagements with small businesses and other professional relationships," says Bianca Mueller.
Having this approach in mind, she suggests following these steps for an organized and successful workflow:
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Prioritize
This is the perfect opportunity to review your client engagements. You should organize your clients based on the importance and complexity of their compliance obligations. Also, list each compliance component for each client. Finally, map out all the tasks and due dates.
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Time Block
Tax season can have a lot of surprises, and you need to be flexible enough to accommodate any change. Block a few minutes daily to re-evaluate your priorities and adjust your schedule. Make sure to self-assess real-life expectations. How many hours of the day are you actually being productive? Be honest with yourself and work around that.
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Control your expectations
After your schedule is time-blocked and colour-coded (we all know that happens), sit back and take a deeper look. Can you actually do it all? Not only do you have to complete your tasks, but you also need to give yourself room to meet the needs and expectations of the people involved in your practice, your clients, your team and your family.
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Get Extra Help
This means looking around for other professionals in your community. It could be as simple as hiring a virtual assistant (VA) to handle phone calls and emails, a marketing or social media manager to keep up your online presence while you are head-down, or a coach to help you stay on track and encourage you along the way. It could also mean handing data entry or bookkeeping tasks to a trusted colleague. You define what it means.
"At the end of the day, your client engagement commitment needs to be met, no matter how many hours you have available. Being prepared and incorporating technology to help create your perfect system can be very helpful," concludes Bianca Mueller.
Bianca Mueller
Community Manager
Wagepoint
Profile | Linkedin
Bianca is a BOA member of the 17th Floor.
The Board of Advisors (BOA) is a select group of Canadian professionals who volunteer their time and expertise to help mentor and share their knowledge of human capital management within the community.
What other step or tip would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments section below.
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1 Comment
Taking time to honestly evaluate the schedule you’ve created for yourself is such an important step (in so many situations). Can you realistically check all the boxes within the timeline you’ve given yourself? Have you built in a bit of contingency for any curve that may present itself?
2 years ago