Making Tax Digital Marketing KitStart preparing your clients today

Includes:Immediate actions you can take in your firmComprehensive marketing advice on how to promote MTDReady-to-use letters and telephone scripts to your clients

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The whole tax system is changing. HMRC proposals mean the filing of information digitally will happen for most UK businesses over the next few years.

This marketing kit has been designed to equip you with the tools that will help your clients successfully tackle Digital Tax. From telephone scripts to client letters that you can use in your firm immediately, you’ll be well on your way to positioning your practice as a firm of the future.

This Marketing Kit is designed to help you:

1. Educate your team on the HMRC proposals

2. Design a client education and awareness programme

3. Get a marketing plan to convert clients to the Cloud

4. Convert your clients speedily

5. Deal with exempt and needy clients and

6. Stay ahead of your competition!

Written by Ian Fletcher FCA, the MTD Marketing Kit is a useful resource to your firm as you transition from annual reporting and charging to a monthly billing and a quarterly reporting system.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) Marketing Kit

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Contents

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1Making Tax Digital Proposals

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On 13 July 2017, the Government announced MTD will commence in April 2019 for businesses with turnover above the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) and will be delayed until at least 2020 for all other businesses.

Under the proposed timetable, only businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold (currently

£85,000) will have to keep digital records, and initially only for VAT purposes from 2019.

As VAT already requires quarterly returns, no business will need to provide information to HMRC

more regularly during this initial phase than they do now.

HMRC started piloting MTD for VAT at the end of 2017. The small-scale private testing will be

followed by a wider, live pilot starting in Spring 2018. This will allow for well over a year of testing

before any businesses are mandated to use the system.

Making Tax Digital – a summary

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2 Immediate Actions for your FirmWe’ve put together 9 steps that will get the ball rolling when it comes to developing Digital Tax in your firm.

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π £85k

∏ £85k

Review consultations and HMRC plans

and ensure all fee earners are aware of

HMRC plans and deadlines.

1Hold a meeting to discuss and ensure all fee earners

understand there will be changes in the way they bill,

prepare accounts, file data and deal with clients.

2Analyse your portfolio and identify VAT registered

and below VAT threshold businesses so that you

can educate the VAT registered businesses first.

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Examine whether you will “tuck in” a

bookkeeping and filing business and

separate added value services from this

and how you position these offerings.

6Consider what reorganisation you may

need to make in terms of staffing, training

and processing for digital tax.

5Identify problem business sectors and consider

whether you will keep digital records on behalf

of some clients (acting as a “buffer” between the

client and HMRC).

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Show the certification(s) on your website

with the Cloud providers logo to position

the firm as a “Cloud Accounting Specialist”.

8And most importantly – move your firm’s own

accounts to your Cloud provider. Become an

advocate! Set up a demo company where all fee

earners have access to the app on their

phones so they can demo to clients.

9Start a process to train fee earners on your

preferred Cloud Software, such as

QuickBooks, and have "champions"

trained as soon as possible.

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LET’S GETSTARTED

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3 Marketing Plan to Start Educating ClientsOver the next few pages, we’ll reveal ways that you can educate Digital Tax to your team and your clients.

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Example Marketing Planner

Now is the time to record your planning and share it with your team. We suggest a 6 - 12 month

campaign. The aim is that well before April 2019 you have converted all above VAT threshold and a

significant number of all your clients to Digital.

Your marketing programme will also depend on the number of clients you have, the number of fee

earners who can demo the product and the speed at which you want to go.

You will need to do some mathematics, how many above VAT threshold clients do you have, how many

weeks until MTD applies? How many clients per week do you need to convert?

It’s only a guide but if you do the exercise it should help focus your activities.

Unless you explain MTD to them, many clients are not going to be aware of the need to change. We

are at the early stage of MTD but the last thing we want is to be converting clients in 2019 (at the last

minute or after they are required to comply).

Whatever your views are, MTD is coming and we need to be ahead of the curve. This is a disruptive

time for the accounting industry and if we embrace the challenge we should be in a better position to

move into the value-added arena and prosper.

Over the next 3 years you are going to need to make significant changes to the way you prepare accounts, file information with HMRC, interact quarterly with HMRC and how you price for the work.

These changes are fundamental to your success in a digital environment and you should start

educating clients about the changes as soon as possible. Many of you are already doing this and if so,

focus on those that are not yet aware of the benefits and the need to change.

The initial marketing plan should simply be to start the process of education. This will be done by direct

mail, email and a brochure (electronic and print) outlining your services.

Example documentation for your client newsletter and / or social media article(s) and direct letter and /

or email is provided in the Kit.

Once these have been sent to clients, you can start discussions about the benefits of a Cloud

accounting package and the need to change ahead of Making Tax Digital. These discussions should be

done as you work through your 2018 portfolio and an example year end script is given below to help

your team with these discussions.

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Here is what we recommend:

Send the covering letter and your tailored brochure to your above VAT threshold clients now. Give

them a week to digest and then follow this up with a phone call and get them to come to a demo

at your offices (with other clients) or go see them or have them in individually, depending on the

complexity of their business.

Repeat the process with below VAT threshold businesses. If you wish, run a parallel programme.

Start thinking about your social media campaign, example material is provided below.

Write to all exempt clients and explain they are exempt but that there are many advantages to a Cloud

package such as QuickBooks and list these in your letter and brochure. We will include an example

letter to exempt clients below.

Also, why not write to your prospects – their existing accountant may not have done this and at least

you have shown you are ahead of the curve. Include the brochure and decide if you are going to offer a

free consultation.

Market, convert, repeat!

After a couple of months, you should be in a position to adjust what you do and how you do this and

start the process of systemising your conversion methodology. For example, by running webinars,

recording them and hosting these on your website and directing clients to them.

Management information – monthly

• Record the number of letters and brochures you send

• Record the number of telephone follow ups

• Record the number of conversions

• Note the non-converted clients for follow up action (it may take several attempts for some clients)

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4 Example Marketing PlannerUse the below plan as a guide to plan your fundamental marketing activities to get started with Digital Tax in your firm.

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April May June July August September October November December January

Letters

Above VAT Threshold

Below VAT Threshold

Exempt

Prospects

Brochure

Above VAT Threshold

Below VAT Threshold

Exempt

Prospects

Telephone Follow Up

Above VAT Threshold

Below VAT Threshold

Exempt

Prospects

Webinar

Above VAT Threshold

Below VAT Threshold

Exempt

Prospects

WebinarTelephoneLetters BrochureKey:

Potential Marketing Programme

Contact a QuickBooks expert at 0800 014 2654 for a free consultation and to help develop a marketing plan for your firm

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5 Digital Accounting Brochure, Telephone Script & Letters/Emails to Clients

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Dear ___________ ,

Digital Tax is Coming – Be Prepared for the Change!

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued plans to make businesses file quarterly

information with them. How individuals and businesses interact with HMRC is changing.

Keeping your financial records will become increasingly digital and most businesses will need

to use software or apps to keep business records – the days of manual record keeping will be

over!

There are exemptions, but for most businesses with turnover above £85,000 you will need to

start planning for Digital Tax now.

So, what’s the good news?

We’ve teamed up with a major Cloud software company to provide our clients with the best

possible fully compliant accounts package, and there are significant benefits to your business

if you use our recommended package:

• It’s on the Cloud so you can get a clear view of your finances any time any place;

• Run your business from work, home or on your mobile;

• It automatically grabs bank receipts and payments in real time; and

• Use your mobile to photograph purchase invoices and expenses and upload these to

the software;

We will be contacting all of our clients to discuss the new HMRC rules and to demo how easy

the new system is. In the meantime, if you are “good to go”, call us and we will be delighted to

help you comply with Digital Tax and take your business to a whole new level.

Best wishes

P.S. Take a look at the attached brochure and see more benefits of moving to the Cloud!

Covering letter to accompany the brochureIncluded with the Marketing Kit is a template for you to tailor by adding your name, logo, contact details, pricing plan and the name of the service range you intend to offer.

If you are not intending to charge monthly and do not want to show prices on the brochure, simply

remove these and add more benefits or testimonials or example case studies from clients who have

already converted.

Many firms who have successfully adopted cloud accounting recommend monthly pricing, offering

clients a standardised range of services to choose from. If your firm decides to take this approach, a

good time to discuss the change with clients is when you’re finalising their finances for the year. We’ve

included a telephone script to help with this conversation.

Digital Accounting Brochure & Covering Letter/Email

Digital Brochure

Below is an example template you could use to

send to clients. You will need to add your logo

and decide whether you are going to include

fixed monthly pricing or just the services and

leave the fees out of the equation. Either way

edit and adapt to for your firm.

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Hello ___________ ,

I was calling to see if you received my letter and brochure on digital accounting.

If you remember it was about HMRC requiring all businesses to keep digital records from

2019/2020 [tailor as appropriate].

Have you heard much about this before? What do you feel about it?

[Note: the client may express their views here, don’t worry, just listen, change is uncomfortable]

Yes, it is a nuisance / inconvenience / issue (or whatever term the client used) but to be honest

there are HUGE advantages of a Cloud based accounting package and clients that have

already converted are really impressed.

You can run your business on the go with the QuickBooks app, create quotes and invoices,

connect your bank account for easy categorisation and a get really helpful overview of your

business at any time. Which one of those features do you think you would find the most useful?

[Make a note of their response, so you can focus on that feature next time you talk about digital

record keeping]

We’ve started to process of moving all of our clients to Cloud accounting software. It would

be great to make sure your business is fully compliant as soon as possible. Do you think you’re

ready to move over to digital? We can arrange all of your data to be transferred and help you

get to grips with the new system.

Great, when is it convenient for me to pop over and sort things out?

(Note: go see the client or have them come in but the aim of this call is to get a time and date in

your diary)

Example script for follow up telephone call

Here is an example script for a telephone call to your clients based on the covering letter and Digital

Brochure that has been sent:

Follow Up Telephone Call

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Dear___________ ,

Making Tax Digital: What it means for your business

The UK Government has confirmed that Making Tax Digital will start to be implemented in

April 2019.

From this date, all your accounting and VAT records will need to be digital. That means no

more manual books, records or electronic spreadsheets. You will need to make the move to

digital accounting.

Many of our clients are already keeping digital accounting records. Our Cloud-based

accounting package is proving very popular as it allows you to:

• Capture receipts and payments from your bank account directly;

• Use your smart phone to photograph expenses and have them filed straight into your

accounts;

• See your results 24/7 via an App on your phone;

• Create quotes and sales invoices easily;

• Reduce the amount of paper you have to keep on file!

We are Cloud Accounting specialists and promise to help you make the transition to Digital

Accounting as straightforward as possible.

I will be calling you later this week to make an appointment to show you the software and

make recommendations on how you can comply with this new legislation.

Best wishes

Sample Letter to all above VAT threshold clients on MTD

Dear ___________ ,

Making Tax Digital: What it means for your business

The UK Government has confirmed that Making Tax Digital will start to be implemented in

April 2019. VAT registered businesses will be the first to be affected, but you’ll need to make

changes too.

The first step is to make sure that all your accounting records are digital. That means no

more manual books, records or electronic spreadsheets. The next step will be filing quarterly

information with HRMC – probably starting in 2020.

Many of our clients are already keeping digital accounting records. Our Cloud-based

accounting package is proving very popular as it allows you to:

• Capture receipts and payments from your bank account directly;

• Use your smart phone to photograph expenses and have them filed straight into

your accounts;

• See your results 24/7 via an App on your phone;

• Create quotes and sales invoices easily; and

• Reduce the amount of paper you have to keep.

We are Cloud Accounting specialists and promise to help you make the transition to Digital

Accounting as straightforward as possible.

I will be calling you later this week to make an appointment to show you the software and

make recommendations on how you can comply with this new legislation.

Best wishes

Sample letter to all other clients on MTD

Letters/Emails to Clients by Category

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Dear___________ ,

Making Tax Digital: What it means for your business

The Government has stated that it intends to launch “Making Tax Digital” in April 2019.

This means that non – exempt businesses will have to keep digital accounting records and file

information with HMRC quarterly.

I am writing to let you know that our preliminary assessment of your business means you

are currently exempt from these measures and you can carry on keeping your accounting

records in the way you do now. We will review the situation again for you next time we do

your accounts.

Many of our clients are already keeping digital accounting records. Our Cloud-based

accounting package is proving very popular as it allows you to:

• Capture receipts and payments from your bank account directly;

• Use your smart phone to photograph expenses and have them filed straight into your accounts;

• See your results 24/7 via an App on your phone;

• Create quotes and sales invoices easily;

• Reduce the amount of paper you have to keep

If you are interested in looking at a new way of keeping your records then we will be delighted

to discuss this with you.

Best wishes

Exempt clients

Note: Turnover less than £10,000, Charities, Community Amateur sports clubs and tax payers that cannot

engage digitally

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Dear___________ ,

Making Tax Digital: What it means for your business

The UK Government has confirmed that Making Tax Digital will start to be implemented in

April 2019.

I am writing to let you know that our preliminary assessment of your business means you are

required to comply with the new regulations.

The first step is to make sure that all your accounting records are digital. That means no

more manual books, records or electronic spreadsheets. The next step will be filing quarterly

information with HRMC – probably starting in 2020.

Insert / delete / edit below as appropriate.

[As HMRC regulations and Government Legislation will mean increasing reporting and

compliance requirements we have made a decision that we cannot help clients who wish to

continue using manual records or spreadsheet based systems in the future.]

OR

[As HMRC regulations and Government Legislation will mean increasing reporting and

compliance requirements we have made a decision that clients who wish to continue using

manual records or spreadsheet based systems will have to pay 40% [insert as appropriate]

more in fees in order for us to convert your records into a format acceptable to HMRC]

OR

[As HMRC regulations and Government Legislation will mean increasing reporting and

compliance requirements we have made a decision to help clients who wish to continue

using manual records or spreadsheet based systems by introducing them to one of our book

keeping team. They will act as a “Buffer” between your business and HMRC and ensure you

comply with the new legislation.]

Many of our clients are already keeping digital accounting records. Our Cloud-based

accounting package is proving very popular as it allows you to:

• Capture receipts and payments from your bank account directly;

• Use your smart phone to photograph expenses and have them filed straight into your

accounts;

• See your results 24/7 via an App on your phone;

• Create quotes and sales invoices easily;

• Reduce the amount of paper you have to keep.

I will be calling you later this week to discuss your needs and make recommendations on how

you can comply with this new legislation.

Best wishes

Sample MTD letter to ‘challenging’ clients

You may find this template helpful for clients who are late payers, keep poor records or have a history

of non-compliance. It can also be used for clients who might need the help of a bookkeeper to help

them comply with MTD.

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6 Social Media

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Ensure your fee earners retweet/repost the firm’s tweets/posts. This shows their commitment to your firm and will help your firm reach out beyond existing clients and prospects.

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Link posts back to your website if you are offering a free demo or consultation, a place where readers can email you directly for more information. Follow up with a phone call to book an appointment.

6Monitor your results weekly and evaluate success or change your methodology. For example, number of followers, connections and likes, number of tweets and posts, retweets/shares, number of demos / consultations requested as a result of social media activity, and new businesses as clients / work done as a result of the activities.

7Be relentless in your approach to Social Media. Reaching out to clients and prospects means a strict daily routine and the discipline to make it happen.

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Every time a fee earner does something positive in their work e.g. converts a client to the cloud, saves tax, spots an opportunity, get them to let you know and (with the client’s permission) or anonymously, post a short summary and/or a testimonial. Every time an individual or the firm achieves something or does something for the community, share this.

4

Follow / Connect to Government (HMRC), Professional bodies (ICAEW, ICAS, ACCA, AAT, Law Society) Business organisations (IOD, FSB, Chambers of Commerce, Pensions Regulator) and Trade Associations, these often provide research and statistics which can be retweeted or shared.

2Follow QuickBooks and other software providers. Their content is very relevant if you are converting clients from desktop to digital.

3Follow / Connect with all your clients and prospects. They should follow back and then you’ve built your audience! Retweet and share as appropriate.

1

+ CONNECT

+ +

+ FOLLOW

[Jim Smith] of [Triple A Taxis] has moved his accounting package to the cloud. We helped him make the move seamlessly and now he can see his figures 24/7 365 on his smart phone! Jim says “I can’t believe what a difference this has made to my business”. Contact us if you want to move onto the next generation business revolution!

Your Firm12 June at 10:12am ·

10 6 1

Yet another business moves to QuickBooks. We’ve done it again! Our client, a [insert type of business] has seen the benefits of [invoices that send and chase themselves, hassle free expense tracking on their phone, automatic bank feeds etc. etc. Insert and rotate regularly] If you haven’t seen the light yet contact us!

Your Firm@yourfirm

10:12am · 12 Jun 17

Yet another business

moves to xxxxx cloud

accounting package.

We’ve done it again!

Your Firm@yourfirm

Yet another business

moves to xxxxx cloud

accounting package.

We’ve done it again!

Your Firm@yourfirm

LET’S GETSTARTED

+ CONNECT

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The top 8 social media activities to make your firm Digital Tax ready.Social media can be a minefield, so use these 8 methods to make sure you’re a step ahead with Digital Tax

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Client newsletter and / or social media articles:

Example social media content

HMRC new initiative – Making Tax Digital

What is “Making Tax Digital”?Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a government initiative to modernise HMRC’s tax system, with the aim of making the whole process of administrating tax simpler and more efficient. All of your tax information will be in one place (your digital account) and you will be able to pay tax based on your business activity during the year, uploading and updating your tax account in real time.

Will it affect me?

If you own a business, or are self-employed and you pay income tax, national insurance, VAT or corporation tax then it is quite likely you will be affected. This means you could be required to keep track of your tax affairs digitally using MTD compatible software, and to update HMRC at least quarterly via your digital tax account. Eventually this will replace annual tax returns. It will be a legal requirement and there will be penalties for non- compliance.

What do I have to do?

Everyone will be allocated a digital account through the current Government Gateway. You’ll need to log into this and update your information every quarter, using digital accounting software. This means a move away from desktop record keeping and onto a Cloud-based system.

As your accountant and tax agent, we can advise you on the software you will need and how to comply with the new quarterly reporting requirements.

When is all this happening?MTD starts with businesses above the VAT threshold limits (currently £85,000) for accounting periods commencing on or after 6 April 2019. Those affected will be required to keep digital records for VAT purposes. It’s likely that all other businesses will have to comply by 2020.

What’s next?

We will be contacting all of our clients in 2018 to prepare you and get you ready for Digital Tax well in advance. In the meantime, if you want to discuss how this affects you and your business please contact us.

Do you want to reduce your running costs and streamline your accounting?

We’ve been working with a number of our clients to help them streamline the way they do their accounts.

Just suppose you:• Had a system where your bank fed your data directly into your accounts• Took a photo on your phone of an expense and it was posted automatically• Could see your results, who owes you money, who you owe and your business bank balance

24/7, 365 from your smart phone

Interested?Announcing our new exclusive cloud accounting packages for imaginative business owners like you, so if you would like:• A clear picture of your current financial position, in real-time• Automatic updates that mean you can spend more time doing what you enjoy• Your accounts are 100% online, so there’s no software to install and everything is backed up

automatically. Updates are free and instantly available• Upfront accounting software costs are eliminated – upgrades, maintenance, system administration

costs and server failures are no longer an issue

Then let’s talk! – call me to arrange a demo on 0207 xxx xxx

The key element to a successful social media programme is being regular and consistent in your

message and this involves daily activity.

It’s worth investing about an hour a day (or 5 hours a week) on social media activities. You should be

able to generate most of your content internally. Make fee earners responsible for 50% of the content

(simple case studies and client testimonials, personal achievements, exams, charity work etc) the aim

for 25% re-tweets and 25% technical matters, such as tax, technology HR and finance.

Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are the most important platforms (in that order). If you’re feeling

ambitious, try posting three times per day, with at least one post in the evening. Software such as

Hootsuite makes it easy to plan your weekly activity and automate tweets or posts.

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7 Other Marketing Activities

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Sample script for discussing MTD with clients when you finalise their accounts.

This script should be used as a guide to introduce the benefits of a cloud accounting package and to

make clients aware of MTD. Please tailor as appropriate.

“As we’ve just finalised your accounts I wanted to talk about HMRC’s new rules on digital

accounts and how they affect your business.

Have you heard much about Making Tax Digital?

Well you might be aware that from 2019 businesses earning over £85,000 will be legally

required to keep digital records. It’ll be a year later for smaller businesses. This means that you

will have to change the way you keep your books from (outline desktop package, manual,

spreadsheet, etc.) to a Cloud accounting package. This may sound uncomfortable and a bit

of a pain but Cloud accounting has huge advantages. (outline a few such as no upfront fee,

monthly fee, automatic backups, mobile app etc.)

Getting information into your accounts has never been simpler (outline photo on mobile,

quotes and invoicing etc.) Demo how the app works. This only takes a couple of minutes. (the

client will be interested!)

We are experts in a variety of packages and I think you should move to xxxx package.

We have [two / three offerings for clients; bronze, silver and gold] depending how much

information you need and as you can see (give client the price list) the pricing is very

straightforward.

Do you want me to arrange the transfer of your data to xxx and move you to digital?”

Visit www.quickbooks.co.uk/marketing-digital-tax or call 0800 014 2654 for a free consultation on how to prepare your firm for Making Tax Digital.

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