The Receipt Bank Blog

In yesterday’s pre-election budget, it was announced that the traditional self-assessment tax return would be retired in favour of moving online. This marks a natural progression for small businesses, as the role of software continues to grow in significance across all industries. Moving this information online is just the latest step in making accounting real-time and opens up the opportunity for businesses to start using their accountants as strategic advisors, a role which gives even more value to their current service.

The abolition of the self-assessment tax return and its move into the digital sphere will also affect accountants who currently manage a significant number of these self-assessments on behalf of their clients. It is time for these accountants to grasp the opportunity of the cloud. This move online confirms the evolution taking place in business finance that all companies must confront – one that requires significant engagement with technology and one that can only end with real-time information being processed as companies and individuals make transactions.

As small businesses look to expand with government support over the coming years, this proposal must be seen as a positive development that allows accountants to focus on value-adding services rather than time-consuming but vital paperwork. Automation of information will inevitably play a large part here, and we should expect to see this being acknowledged by the government and businesses alike as we move forward.

"This adoption of the cloud by the government is no great surprise. This day has been on the cards since the article by Marc Andreessen 'Why software is eating the world'. It's great to see this progression which we and many of our progressive Accountant and Bookkeeping partners have been saying was just a matter of time." Nelson Da Silva, UK Country Manager