How Incra Group automated its tax return process using Content Snare

Individual tax returns make up a significant income stream for many accounting firms. While most tax returns are relatively straightforward to process, accountants often face difficulties in gathering the information and documents they need to get the job done. This turns a simple procedure into a time-consuming, resource-draining challenge.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right technology, you can streamline and automate the information-gathering process. This vastly reduces the time it takes to process tax returns — and increases the number of clients you can serve during tax season.

Read on to learn how Incra Group overhauled its document-collection process using Content Snare — and the benefits it has enjoyed as a result.

Resources stretched thin

Incra Group is an Australian tax, accounting, and advisory firm that focuses primarily on the construction industry. Individual tax returns represent one of the firm’s regular income streams, but the process they had in place was proving inefficient. 

The Incra team were using a combination of email and phone calls to request documents, send follow-ups, and chase clients for missing information. This used up a lot of the firm’s resources for relatively little in return.

In an attempt to save time and money, they experimented with a popular form builder, but they found it somewhat tricky and time-consuming to build new templates from scratch. Another major issue they had was that the tool they were using didn’t automatically save their clients’ progress. As a result, there was a lot of confusion over what had been submitted and what hadn’t.

We were getting a couple of complaints because clients would get to the last stage but not actually submit. So then we’d go, ‘alright, well you haven’t done the checklist.’ And the client would say, ‘No, I did.

With this type of uncomfortable conversation happening all too often, it was clear that their current setup wasn’t working.

Discovering Content Snare

The Incra Group uses Ignition, an all-in-one platform for professional services businesses, to help run the day-to-day processes of their firm. Ignition was running a webinar on streamlining the tax return process, and account manager Suhen Samaranayake decided to attend. 

Through this webinar, Suhen was introduced to Content Snare as a way to streamline the process of gathering information from clients. They described a process that looked something like this:

• Through Ignition, you send a scope out to the potential new client 
• When that scope is accepted, a job is created
• A Content Snare questionnaire is then sent out to the client to gather the information and documents needed

Suhen realised that implementing Content Snare would allow Incra Group to eliminate the unnecessary and repetitive manual processes that were proving so costly, while also providing a better client experience. He got one of his colleagues to take a closer look at Content Snare, and they decided to give it a go. 

The only hesitation they had before adopting Content Snare was that clients wouldn’t want to use an unfamiliar tool. Email and phone calls might be time-consuming and clunky, but people are comfortable using them. Those concerns were soon put to rest, however, as their clients saw the true value of Content Snare’s intuitive web forms. 

Driving efficiency through automation

Since implementing Content Snare, Incra Group has enjoyed a 50-75% increase in revenue relating to tax returns. Where Suhen once had to manually request information from new clients or jump on the phone to chase them for missing documents, it now all happens automatically. 

Last year, I would have done all those tax returns myself, either by email correspondence or phone. But we were able to set up a template, so we’re gathering all that information in that specific questionnaire. And that means I haven’t actually touched a tax return for over a year

Automating this process has been a game-changer for Suhen and the Incra team, freeing them up to focus on work that brings more value to the firm. Suhen estimates that Content Snare has saved them up to an hour per client. 

I think you definitely need to adopt Content Snare because one of the most limited resources for an accounting firm is time, and it’s something that’s going to save you a hell of a lot of time.

As well as saving the firm time, Content Snare has allowed Incra to deliver a slicker, more professional client experience. This presents the firm in the best possible light during what is one of the first touchpoints new clients have with them.

Is it time you rethought your tax return process?

For many accounting firms, individual tax returns are the bread and butter of their business. There’s always tons of demand, and in most cases, the process is relatively simple — at least from an accounting perspective. 

Where many firms trip up, however, is in the process of gathering client information and documents — and the tools they use to facilitate it. If you’re still using email to manually send out questionnaires, send reminders, or chase clients for missing documents, you’re wasting your time. 

Content Snare allows you to eliminate manual processes, back-and-forth emails, and all the frustration that comes with it. Instead, you can build an intuitive tax preparer checklist and save it as a template to use across all your clients. 

You can provide detailed instructions for each request, answer client questions in-app, and schedule automated reminders for missing documents. You can also integrate Content Share with your existing tech stack, allowing you to build seamless workflows that save you time. The result is a streamlined process that you and your clients will love. 

So, are you ready to give it a try?