During busy season, tax preparers have to withstand 80 hours of hardwork filing taxes for a great deal of people. A busy season for these people is like managing a Walmart store during black Friday sale. The question still lingers, what is the busiest month for tax preparers?
Tax preparers are bound to office desk from 1st of January till 15th of April and in between they sometimes work 50 to 80 hours or more depending on work and number of people.
What is the Busiest Month?
First quarter of fiscal year is chaotic and busiest season for accountants as most deadlines fall between 15th of March and 15th of April. However, September – October is also quite busy albeit less chaotic than January – April season. With waves of tax filings piling up in accountant firms, accountants vie to meet deadline.
Busiest season is January to April but busiest month? It would be March for a few reasons. Tax rush starts in January, but peaks by March as most individuals start filing their taxes in anticipation of April 15th deadline.
Private and public traded companies are required to submit quarter reports during March and February. It initiates various activities including, financial statement preparation, internal control testing, and communicating with stakeholders.
Which Tax Preparers are the Most Busiest?
Public Accountants: They are mostly busy from January to April but March takes the lead in being their busiest month.
Management Accountants: These people are mostly occupied during December and January given the nature of their work tending to budget and forecast for next fiscal year.
Tax Accountants: Dealing with complexities of tax codes, these individuals are busiest in weeks leading up-to April 15th deadline.
Forensic Accountants: You can count on them when it comes to investigating fraud and deceit but they don’t follow the same busy season. Their job calls when involved in a case or appearing for court.
What are the important deadlines?
January 15th
Form 1040 – ES Fourth Quarter Estimated Tax Payment for self-employed individuals
March 15th
Form 1065 Partnership Returns
Form 1120 – S S Corporations
April 15th (or the next business day if it falls on a weekend or holiday):
Form 1040 – ES Most taxpayers fall under this category
Form 1040 – ES First Quarter Estimated Tax Payment for self-employed individuals
Form 4868 Filing for Extensions for 6 months till October 15th
June 15th
Form 1040 US citizens residing abroad are eligible for 2 month extension
Form 1040 – ES Second Quarter Estimated Tax Payment for self-employed individuals
September 15th
Form 1065 Extension For partnerships (6-month
Form 1120 – S Extension for s corporations that filed for an extension in March
Form 1040 – ES Third Quarter Estimated Tax Payment for self-employed individuals
October 15th
Form 1040 For individuals who filed Form 4868 for an extension
How do you deal with work overload?
Prioritize your work and plan beforehand
You need to wake up your clients delaying tax filing for the deadline because delay in work will pile up your work. This piled-up work will burn you out and probably jumble up the work. Schedule your tax filing with clients to avoid crunch and overload in peak season. Use calendars and reminders to track your work and client meetings without forgetting or delaying them.
You will find some missing documents in your client’s submissions which can further delay your work and increase your stress. Before accepting any submission, explain the prerequisite documents required for filing taxes and remind them of the repercussions if they are incomplete.
Use Automation Software to reduce the burden
It is easier to collect e-documents than submitting them in person for obvious reasons. You can utilize services provided by Financial-Cents, Karbon, SmartVault, and Jetpack Workflow to allow your clients to submit documents electronically. It offers you a seamless work-flow to focus on necessary tasks and set reminders for important dates.
You can also use these service providers for tracking your work, assigning tasks to team members, meeting deadlines, and much more catering to your requirements. This streamlines all your processes to minimize redundancies harmonizing all of your tasks.
Optimize your schedule and bunch together related tasks
People don’t realize that grouping similar tasks can substantially reduce workload and alleviate stress. For instance, divide your tasks into communication (handling client calls, client meeting, team discussion), organization (handle client data, sort relevant information, tax filing), and management (meeting deadlines, organizing team, verifying documents, prioritizing tasks).
We often find ourselves clinging to our cellphones most of the time which can distract us from our work. Use a do-not-disturb app such as Lock-Me-Out to limit notifications and distractions on your mobile.