Digitization Tax Advisor: Tools & Tips for the Digital Tax Office

In every tax office, there are numerous repetitive tasks that tie up personnel capacities as well as cost time. Especially around tax appointments, missing documents or client data quickly lead to stress and communication becoming increasingly confusing.

Increasing digitization in tax firms promises to put an end to endless paperwork and the flood of emails. Studies show that 85 percent of tax consultants have recognized the potential of digitization and are increasingly relying on digital tools. 71 percent see digitization as securing their future as tax consultants. 

In practice, however, it often becomes apparent that digital tools and solutions alone cannot solve the challenges faced by tax firms if they do not interact optimally and are not used systematically. 

We will show you what challenges tax consultants face in the course of digitization and how you can use them to your advantage with the help of concrete tips.

What is a digital tax office?

A digital tax office is characterized by the fact that various areas of the office, such as business processes, accounting, the tax advice itself, and also communication with clients and authorities are largely digitized. This includes various software solutions, such as law firm software or a collaboration suite for secure data exchange and workflow management.

With the right tools to digitize your tax office

For tax consultants, digitization is leading to workflows and consulting activities moving ever closer to a paperless standard. To this end, many firms are already using digital tools, such as:

• Law firm software for tax consulting & client management
• Project management tool for the organization of the law firm
• Accounting software for payroll & balance sheet preparation for your law firm
• Software for digital signature in tax consulting

• Digital communication tools such as e-mail program or telephone system
• Collaboration suite to bring together all isolated applications

Opportunities for tax consultants: understanding digitization as added value

For you as a tax consultant, digitization holds the potential to make workflows and collaboration with your clients more efficient:

• Increase efficiency: With the help of digital project and task management tools, you can optimize and automate workflows, collect and evaluate data in a structured manner, and create analyses and forecasts at the touch of a button.
• Save costs & time: The more efficiently you can work, the more time you save in the implementation of repetitive activities, so that your employees are relieved and have more capacity available for advising and supporting your clients.
• Seamless communication: Using digital tools, you can optimize communication with your employees and clients to avoid the typical "email ping-pong" and, for example, conduct video calls reliably and securely. This also enables you to work from your home office or provide advice regardless of location.

• Flexible data access: Digital solutions and cloud storage make it easier for you to collaborate and securely transfer data with employees, external contacts and clients so that you can, for example, edit documents together.

• Innovative image: Both employees and clients are accustomed to using digital tools in everyday life and also expect corresponding solutions from a tax firm. Digitization supports you in profiling your image as an employer or tax advisor and in developing a competitive advantage.

Challenges of digitalization: tax firms in transition

As many opportunities as digitization offers tax advisors, you should also be aware of the challenges that lie ahead. Digital tools have shaken up the tax consulting world and not all employees and clients are open to the changes. 

One problem with many software solutions is that they are not intuitive to use, can hardly be customized, and are highly complex. In addition, the tools are often used as fragmented stand-alone solutions that do not collaborate with each other. As a result, you not only lose an overview by constantly switching between programs, but also more time than you gain through digitization.

Another challenge of digitization is the security and data protection requirements for tax consultants as well as cybersecurity. Many common tools do not meet the professional requirements or DSGVO compliance that are essential for tax firms. 

5 tips for the successful digitization of your tax office 

In order to take full advantage of the business potential of digitization as a tax advisor, you should consider a few points in view of the challenges:  

1. Understanding digitization as a unique selling point (USP)

As a tax consultant, you already have expertise that makes your profession indispensable. Bring this knowledge together with digital know-how and efficient tools, and you can develop a clear competitive advantage and a unique selling point within your industry. This may include, for example, offering an easy-to-perform digital signature.

2. Involve employees & clients in the process

In the course of digitization, many tax consultants fear that either employees or clients do not want to use the digital tools or that they lack the know-how. It is therefore all the more important that you closely accompany the introduction of new solutions and communicate the potential of the innovations to both parties in an understandable way.

3. Pay attention to user-friendliness & intuitive operation 

When selecting a digital solution, look for a self-explanatory user interface and intuitive operation. The easier it is for your employees and clients to use the tool, the higher the acceptance and the more efficient future collaboration will be.

4. Deploy solutions with clear safety standards

In a digital tax office, security should always come first. This also includes ensuring that all solutions used are DSGVO-compliant and rely on modern encryption technologies and European servers. 

5. Efficiently merge isolated applications

Different activities within a tax firm require different, self-contained tools. However, it becomes problematic when you want to transfer information from one program to another or share data. A collaboration suite helps you bring these tools together and establish an overarching, secure platform.

Effective & secure digitization for tax consultants with a collaboration suite

The future of tax firms lies not only in digitization, but above all in the smart use of digital tools for secure and efficient collaboration with your clients. 

A solution like IURIO's Collaboration Suite unites your current programs and tools via interfaces on a tax advisor platform for highly efficient communication and collaboration:

• Efficient communication with your clients saves up to 50 percent of workload on average
• Bundle isolated applications (e.g., e-signature, project management, web conferencing) without sacrificing relevant functionality
• Interfaces to the most common law firm software (DATEV & BMD) as well as to many other tools
• Modern encryption methods and 100% DSGVO-compliant for guaranteed secure communication and data exchange
• Optimized workflows through Kanban boards, standardization and automation save resources 
• Intuitive user interface, so IURIO is ready to use without training

To ensure that IURIO's functions meet the specific requirements of digital tax firms, we rely on close cooperation with Linde during development. You also have the option of using IURIO as an on-premises solution.

If you would like to learn more about the cost-benefit benefits for your tax firm and see the collaboration suite in action, feel free to book a no-obligation demo appointment.

"Yes" to digitization: Tax consultants secure their future with modern software solution

Digitalization is shaping the work of tax consultants, tax firms and characterizes the future prospects of the entire industry. Digital tools support you in working together more efficiently, communicating and thus saving time and costs.

However, replacing manual tasks with software solutions is only the first step towards a digital tax office. You can only really make effective use of digitization if you set up seamless interfaces between the various programs used and bundle communication between employees and clients on a single platform.

A tool like IURIO's Collaboration Suite enables you to bundle complex, fragmented stand-alone solutions and establish a highly secure basis for digital collaboration with all relevant contacts. 

If you would like to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of digitalization for tax consultants, take a look at our blog or contact our team of experts.

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