I agree with all your sentiments. I have tackled this issue over a period of 20 years. There are plenty of things that can be done.

But, over the last three years my last three tax returns ahve always been the same three people. They seem beyond reform. One is a close relative. Another is an old university friend of 30 years standing whose retunr takes about an hour. The last is a solicitor who is always bogged down on litigation (or so it seems, although there’s always a mysterious window in mid January to end stuff to me).

All three are friends, to be candid. Normal commercial rules do not apply. If they did they would have gone long ago.

The moral is simple: don’t have friends as clients. It doesn’t pay.

Presumably yours to persuade clients of the benefits to them of getting the information to you earlier in the year.

I have been collating ideas and tips from accountants over the last few years in an effort to find out which approaches work best. I address this issue, of clients leaving things to the last minute, in my talk for accountants who want to get better results from their tax work. This year I will also be sharing some of the better ideas on my blog to help accountants plan things better - as there is a further justification for changing their systems given the new earlier deadline for filing paper based tax returns.

(or is this a ref to you leaving your own return to the last minute? In which case my comment is: ‘why indeed?’)