White label accounts production and tax returns

Year-end accounts and tax returns are where a practice’s capacity runs out. The work bunches around December and January, it needs qualified people, and those people are the hardest to hire. Our own delivery business, Buzz, prepares accounts and tax returns for other practices on a white label basis. We prepare, you review and sign, and the client only ever deals with your firm.

What we take on

• Statutory year-end accounts under FRS 102 Section 1A and FRS 105, from your bookkeeping or the client’s records
• Corporation tax computations and CT600 returns, tagged in iXBRL and ready to file
• Self assessment returns for sole traders, landlords, directors and partnerships
• Monthly or quarterly management accounts with a written commentary
• Working papers, lead schedules and a review notes sheet on every job

We work in your accounts production and tax software, including IRIS, TaxCalc, CCH, BTCSoftware and Capium, on top of Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or FreeAgent. If you use a workflow tool such as Karbon or Senta, jobs are picked up and updated there.

What comes back to you

A job is only useful if you can review it quickly. Each one comes back with the accounts, the tax computation, working papers laid out to your template, and one sheet of notes: what was unusual this year, what we assumed and why, and what still needs an answer from the client. Client queries are gathered into one list per job. Anything you mark up on review is corrected the same day.

If you do not have a working papers standard, we bring one and you keep it. A practice that is thinking about a sale finds this useful in its own right, because consistent files are one of the first things a buyer looks at in due diligence.

Who signs and who files

You do. The client is yours, the engagement letter is yours and the signature on the accounts is yours. We prepare to the point where the job is ready for review. You approve and file, or we submit through your software on your instruction. Professional judgement on anything contentious stays with you, and we flag those points instead of settling them quietly.

The January problem, and what is about to be added to it

Most practices can staff eleven months of the year and cannot staff January. A seat gives you qualified preparation time all year, which lets you pull self assessment work forward into the autumn instead of hiring for a peak that lasts six weeks.

That peak is also about to change shape. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax replaces one annual return with quarterly updates for the clients it covers, which we explain in what MTD for Income Tax means for your practice. Companies House is changing what small companies file, covered in the Companies House accounts reforms. Both mean more preparation work per client.

How you buy it, and what it costs

This work is sold through Muckin, the business we own for exactly this. It is staffed by the same Buzz team described on this page. You take a seat, which is a fixed share of a named person's month, and fill it with whatever work you need. The price is the same whether a job runs long or short, so there is no hourly bill to check. Muckin publishes its seat prices, and its capacity calculator turns your workload into the number of seats it would take.

Frequently asked questions

What standard are the accounts prepared to?

FRS 102 Section 1A and FRS 105, with full working papers and lead schedules. If you have a review checklist we follow it, and if you do not we bring one.

Who files the accounts and returns?

You do, or we do on your instruction through your software. It is your client and your signature, so approval always sits with you.

Which accounts and tax software do you use?

Yours, including IRIS, TaxCalc, CCH, BTCSoftware and Capium, alongside Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and FreeAgent. We work inside your licences and your file structure.

Can you work from poor records?

Yes. Catch-up bookkeeping before the accounts start is part of the same seat, so a job does not stall because the books were not ready.

Are the people qualified?

Accounts and tax work is prepared by qualified and part-qualified accountants employed by Buzz, and reviewed in the UK before it reaches you. You then carry out your own review before signing.

The rest of the back office

• White label bookkeeping
• White label payroll
• White label company secretarial
• White label tax for solicitors