Buy cheap, buy twice.

“Buy cheap, buy twice.”

That’s exactly what I think when I hear about the business owner’s decision to get a “cheap accountant” and an “expert tax advisor” later to “handle the filing”.

And I can understand where this decision comes from, since many people don’t realize that the filing process heavily relies on accurate financial reports. Simply speaking, you file based on what’s in your books and in the supporting documents. And if they are not tax-compliant, it will surface VERY EASILY during an FTA audit and could result in heavy penalties.

It’s like trying to prepare for the exam the night before, not opening the textbook the entire semester – usually quite a risky strategy. And for tax filing, it turns out to be much more costly this way (AED 1k+, could go up to AED 7k just for filing), even without accounting for potential FTA penalties, which could amount to 50% of the unpaid tax, with 4% monthly interest accruing.

So what usually happens in such a situation? You pay a bit extra for filing, and could pay a lot more for fines/penalties.

1. If you usually partner with a tax advisor, he’ll quietly mention once that he’ll rely on your numbers, do a quick tick-box submission for AED 5k-10k.
2. It will look like he’s done his job (and technically he has), but you could be sitting on a ticking compliance time bomb afterward.

What do we do at skrooge.ai when we encounter such a situation? You pay a bit extra for filing and some more for backlog accounting to avoid fines/penalties.

1. After the KYC/onboarding we do a quick VAT/CT Health Check to identify potential compliance issues arising from issues in your accounting.
2. If such issues are uncovered, we propose to do Backlog Accounting = redo your books.
3. After the clean-up exercise, we’ll confidently file VAT/CT returns, being ready for future potential audits.
4. And you can see our pricing and realize that it’s good value-for-money.

But what happens if we do the books from the start? Tax filing will be included at no extra cost.

1. We can skip the first two steps entirely, along with the associated costs and stress, since we were preparing for the exam the entire semester!
2. We reviewed every single invoice issued or received for tax compliance so the documents are in order.
3. We tagged every single transaction with the appropriate VAT/CT treatment, so when it comes to filing, it becomes a quick game of calculating aggregate amounts.
4. If it comes to CT filing, we monitor SBR thresholds, QFZP conditions & de-minimis limits, related-party & shareholder transactions.
5. So the filing process becomes seamless and is included at no extra cost.

So, after reading this post, does it also make sense to you that tax filing is just an icing on the cake of accounting?