Companies Mentioned
Why It Matters
The deadline drives a massive, time‑critical workload that impacts cash flow, compliance risk, and service quality for firms and their clients. Understanding these pressures helps stakeholders anticipate resource needs and regulatory challenges.
Key Takeaways
- •5.65 m taxpayers still filing in early January
- •Managing partners juggle deals and tax returns
- •HMRC helpline shutdown then quickly reversed
- •January workload creates firm‑wide teamwork
- •MTD will reshape filing rhythms soon
Pulse Analysis
The self‑assessment deadline has become a cultural touchstone for UK accountants, turning January into a high‑intensity period where routine tax returns dominate agendas. While firms usually focus on growth initiatives such as M&A or AI integration, the season forces senior partners to roll up their sleeves and handle day‑to‑day compliance. This collective effort not only ensures statutory obligations are met but also reinforces internal cohesion, as teams rally around a shared, time‑sensitive goal.
Operationally, the deadline brings predictable friction points. HMRC’s recent decision to suspend its helpline on deadline day—followed by a rapid reversal—highlighted the fragility of support infrastructure during peak demand. The resulting surge in client inquiries and last‑minute filings strains both technology platforms and staff capacity, raising the risk of errors and delayed submissions. Firms that proactively allocate resources and communicate clearly with clients can mitigate these pressures and preserve service quality.
Looking ahead, the rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD) promises to alter the rhythm of filing by mandating real‑time digital submissions. While this shift aims to streamline compliance, it also introduces new technology adoption challenges for both accountants and taxpayers. Industry gatherings such as the Finance, Accounting & Bookkeeping Show provide a forum to discuss best practices and prepare for the transition. Firms that embrace MTD early will likely gain a competitive edge, turning the annual January crunch from a disruptive hurdle into a catalyst for modernization.
Here’s to the self assessment crazy ones
“Here’s to the crazy ones…” Anyone else think Steve Jobs was actually talking about accountants and tax professionals in that iconic 90s Apple advert? With the self‑assessment deadline just around the corner, I can’t think of anyone else who fits the bill.
Over the past month, I’ve spoken to plenty of managing partners at mid‑tier and fast‑growing firms. Their plates are already full with everything from M&A to AI disruption and a side serving of talent shortage. But during January, these challenges are mostly put on pause. For one month, everything revolves around tax returns.
It’s the only time of the year when you don’t know what day the bins go out, but you know exactly the number of tax returns you have left to file, and you can respond to client emails with “yes, it’s in progress…” without even needing to read the message.
The work days get longer, the weekends get shorter, and you accept that you’ll probably see your family and friends again sometime in February, when you finally emerge bleary‑eyed from your tax‑return hibernation, only to remember the bins need putting out again.
The rebels
When I spoke to Will Smart, the managing partner at Cottons, earlier this month, I caught him in the middle of his tax‑return work. To put this in context, he had not long since shaken hands on a deal to sell Cottons to VIEW Group, so understandably, he’s been a very busy chap. With everything else going on, you’d forgive him for offloading his small client portfolio to someone else.
But instead of sitting in a boardroom in front of a whiteboard with “STRATEGY” scrawled across it, he was spending a gloomy Tuesday morning in the middle of January inking his hands with tax returns. He characterised his efforts as “leading from the front”, but in the next breath, he admitted that he actually enjoys the work.
After months of conference rooms, locked‑in negotiations and knee‑deep in due diligence, he confided that it was “nice to get back to some day‑job stuff”. He’s not alone. Another managing partner I spoke to also spent December working on selling his firm, but still dragged himself into the office – winter flu and all – to support the firm’s tax‑return efforts.
There’s just something about the self‑assessment deadline. No matter what you do in the firm, it becomes a team effort. There’s no escaping it. There’s just something in the air. It’s like the accounting profession’s FA Cup Final; a team coach ride to the office, superstitiously tapping the grass before the work day begins and recording a ropey team song are all optional, of course.
Some people love the buzz of January. Others loathe it. But there’s comfort in the routine. Sure, you could have done all your tax returns last summer, but where’s the fun in that? The predictable chaos of January gets the blood pumping. This year has been no different. It’s the same stories that play out every year.
The troublemakers
Predictably, the first email I opened after Christmas break was from HMRC’s press team sharing the tally of returns still to be filed. At that point, 5.65 m people started January with their tax affairs still undone. But as comfortably chaotic as January always is, I could have accurately guessed that number without having to sprinkle any mince‑pie crumbs across the keyboard as I opened the email.
Last year, it was 5.4 m. The year before, 5.7 m. It’s probably the same people every time – and let’s be honest, quite a few of them are accountants leaving theirs until last. If I had to guess, next January it’ll be around 5.5 m or 5.6 m again. There’s something reassuringly chaotic about that.
Predictably, this year brought the traditional HMRC phone drama too. The decision not to open helplines on deadline day, followed by a reversal days later, was the chef’s kiss of self‑assessment antics – a classic in the January tax news cycle.
After the weekend, life begins again. You can look forward to sacking the clients who made your January miserable. You can book your tickets for the Finance, Accounting & Bookkeeping Show (FAB). You can use those two days in March to think about growth.
The round pegs in square holes
Until then, it’s the final push. Yes, those who finished months ago are already on the ski slopes, smugly telling anyone who’ll listen how organised they are.
But they’ll miss those side glances with a colleague when that client finally replies the day before deadline day, after ignoring at least eight reminder emails throughout the year. They’ll miss the long sigh when a client asks, “What is this deadline you refer to in your email?” They’ll miss catching the eye of another accountant in January and both knowing exactly how the other feels without saying a word.
They’ll miss saying “never again” on 1 February, knowing full well what next January will bring.
The ones who see things differently
There is something very British about the self‑assessment deadline. Moaning about it is as cathartic as complaining about the weather. So enjoy the chaos while it lasts. MTD will bring its own disruption and a different rhythm. But whatever happens, we’ll still have 31 January.
Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebel accountants still doing returns on 31 January. The bags of receipts. The trouble‑making clients. The ones who turn up out of the blue on 30 January. The accountants who say “never again”.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to still be doing tax returns in January are the ones who secretly wouldn’t have it any other way.
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