TAX CONSULTING FIRMS
Tax Consulting Firm Owners: Notice Work, Fees and Deadlines
A client forwards a GST notice at four in the afternoon with a reply date three days away. Your senior is already preparing returns for the deadline, the client has not paid the last bill, and nobody agreed a fee for notice work.
We advise on how the firm runs. That covers how retainers and one-off fees are set, how due-date work is spread across staff, how reviews and sign-offs are organised, and how clients are followed up. We do not give tax opinions or advise on any notice. The signing professional does that.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Notice and assessment work arrives without warning and without a fee agreed, so effort is given away or argued about after the reply is filed.
- 02Returns, audits and certifications crowd into the same dates, and staff work long hours that the fees do not reflect.
- 03The partner reviews everything personally, which slows replies and leaves juniors guessing what standard is expected.
- 04Clients call only when a notice comes and disappear when the work is done, so relationships are transactional and bills are slow.
- 05Records of past replies and positions sit in individual mailboxes, and a staff change loses the history of a client's case.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01A fee card separating retainers, return filing, notice replies, appeals and advisory calls
- 02A notice register: date received, reply date, owner, status and fee agreed
- 03A deadline calendar showing return and audit due dates by client and who prepares each
- 04A review checklist so partner review is against a list, not a full rework
- 05A document request template for clients, with a clear date by which they must reply
- 06A client file index so any team member can find previous replies and working papers
- 07Retainer reviews once a year against actual hours
- 08A routine for calling retainer clients before the due dates rather than after
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- Find the last ten notices you handled. Mark the fee quoted before work started, the hours spent and the amount collected. Fix the quote step first.
- Hypothetical example: a retainer of ₹3,000 a month covers returns, but the client adds a notice every quarter that takes 12 hours. Add a notice fee in writing at renewal.
- Put the next sixty days' due dates on one wall chart with names beside each. Note where one person carries too many.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A fee card and engagement letter template for recurring and one-off work
- A notice and deadline tracker used in a weekly meeting
- A role chart for partner, senior, junior and accounts with review rules
- A client pre-deadline reminder routine with scripted messages
Not the right fit when: If a client faces a penalty, prosecution or disputed demand, a qualified tax professional must lead. Our help is for the firm's management, not the case.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
