You may have heard of the term ‘KYC’, which means ‘know your client’. But what about ‘KYP’? And how does that relate to Making Tax Digital ITSA? OK, enough of the cryptic acronyms.
We know that Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (that’s the MTD ITSA bit) comes into force for the tax year beginning in April 2024. Basically, sole traders and landlords will have to start making multiple filings to HMRC, replacing the singular filing that takes place at the moment.
There is an ever-increasing focus on accountancy and small business software vendors to have ‘solutions’ in place to help accountants and their clients cope with the change.
But, as is always the case, while technology is a vital tool in helping the business world operate there are many steps to be taken on the road to running smoothly and efficiently. And this is where the other acronyms come into play.
KYC is more of a regulatory reference than a business strategy. The terms came into play for financial services organisations – do they really know who they’re working with? Whose funds they are transferring? It broadly covers anti-money laundering policies.
Some accounting practices will be managing such client verification. But… the term ‘KYC’ could easily apply more fundamentally to knowing who your customer is, how they work with you, and how they operate in the normal course of running their business.
And then there’s ‘KYP’… which could well mean ‘know your practice’. Do you understand how your practice operates? For example, do you have unique processes for each client, or just a few? And how efficient are those processes… can they be compared? Have you checked that they’re the best way to work with those client subsets?
You may think to yourself: How does KYC and KYP relate to MTD ITSA? Without understanding how your practice works with its clients, or stress-testing the number of different ways you work with them (and how this can be streamlined or reduced). then you’re missing a fundamental number of steps prior to implementing the right tech to help you manage the huge tranche of extra filings that will follow MTD ITSA’s introduction.
Without knowing how your practice works, your clients work, or how you work together, it will be difficult to leverage technology to support you through this major tax filing change.
Vipul Sheth is MD and founder of AdvanceTrack Outsourcing. If you’d like to speak to Vipul and his team about improving your practice’s processes and workflow, contact him here.
