When a new financial year dawns, employees, employers, and payroll service providers (PSPs) get busy with the IT declaration process. All of them want to complete it quickly without any hassles. However, getting it done without a streamlined approach is a mammoth undertaking.
Abhishek Mishra, Director, Protiviti India Member Firm, joined greytHR for a Parichay webinar exclusively for the benefit of PSPs. As a seasoned expert, he shared insights and tips to streamline the IT declaration process.
This blog features the highlights of the conversation on IT declaration, including recommendations for payroll service providers handling multiple clients.
Know the Benefits of Streamlining IT Declaration
Payroll service providers can automate and streamline the IT declaration process. This reduces manual data entry and administrative tasks, thereby increasing operational efficiencies. Another benefit is the reduction in errors while making tax calculations and filings. This enhances the standard and efficiency of the services rendered by PSPs.
Clients of payroll service providers must ensure adherence to the relevant laws and regulations, reducing the risk of non-compliance. The lack of proper processes for declaration and compliance can lead to penalties for their clients. Hence, PSPs must ensure quality and accuracy in all processes. Timely and accurate processing of payroll and accurate tax deductions result in better employee satisfaction.
Leverage Automation with Software Tools
Manual payroll processing has its limitations. Software tools make this activity more efficient, ensuring speed, accuracy, and compliance. The tools also automatically calculate taxes based on the declarations and updated labor laws and regulations.
Employees must make their declarations every year. AI/ML-powered tools can be used to analyze the data from the past year and recommend the best fit for the current year. But it is necessary to feed the right data, so the tools can learn quickly and deliver accurate results.
Tool integration also helps a lot. When a payroll team integrates the right tools, productivity rises significantly. Let's say there is a tax calculator on the HRMS portal. Employees can use it to make their investment declarations. If there’s a provision to compare the displayed tax amount with that of the government portal, it’s convenient for them. Also, they’ll trust the HRMS more when the amounts match.
Clients and their employees will benefit when their PSP uses innovative technologies. Power BI, for instance, can be used to perform complex analysis and tax calculations. Insights can also be drawn from past declarations, submissions, and salary increments for the current declarations. Today’s cloud-based payroll processing tools also offer advantages in terms of access, storage, processing power, and privacy.
Explore Customizable IT Declaration Solutions
Payroll service providers handle varied businesses across industries and regulatory environments. Clients are different, and they have employees in different salary brackets. Therefore, it is imperative to recommend bespoke software solutions to meet their changing needs. PSPs should be able to generate multiple reports quickly and as per their clients’ expectations and audit requirements.
Not all employees understand English, so they can be given the option to fill out forms in a vernacular language. OCR-based tools help scan and transfer that information to the system for processing. An employee self-service (ESS) portal will make IT declaration easier for employees and minimize the workload of the payroll team.
PSPs must adopt a client-centric approach. The software interface must be intuitive, so the client and their employees can work on it easily. Last but not least, it is essential to get feedback from the client’s employees. Only then can the declaration-related process become simpler and more efficient.
Understand Compliance and Ensure Adherence
Strict compliance with laws is crucial for maintaining integrity and avoiding any penalties. PSPs must proactively discuss the key tax regulations with clients. They must also inform the clients about what’s happening in the legal environment, so they can remain compliant. An HRMS makes the task of IT declaration easier and faster. It’s also easy to catch errors committed by employees since everything is documented online.
Enlighten and Empower Employees
PSPs have to educate their clients’ employees on the importance of saving taxes. This can be done by way of workshops, seminars, and online portals. It is important to explain the different sections and the value of the relevant investments. Also, they have to be apprised of the options that provide more tax benefits in a compliant manner. In short, every client and employee must be in a position to make a well-informed decision.
Do You Want to Hear It Directly from the Expert?
Watch the Webinar Recording
