Using WhatsApp for Making Tax Digital
WhatsApp is becoming an essential tool for accountants preparing for Making Tax Digital (MTD).
This is because WhatsApp is one of the most effective ways to get responses from clients - faster and more consistent than email or calls. For busy clients, it feels more personal and less formal, which makes it easier to respond. Used properly and integrated with your practice management software, WhatsApp can help accountants collect tax information, send reminders, and streamline Making Tax Digital processes, all without adding to your team’s admin load.
Why Traditional Communication Fails Under Digital Tax Rules
WhatsApp for Making Tax Digital is more than a convenience. It’s a way to build a faster, clearer, and more visible workflow across your firm.
Client communication challenges for MTD are increasingly common. Outdated tools, like calls and emails, or untracked WhatsApp messages siloed on standalone phones, make it difficult to stay on top of client communications. These methods slow down your ability to collect documentation and increase the risk of incomplete or inaccurate submissions.
For MTD, these gaps create real risks:
- Missed or late filings due to slow responses
- Incomplete documentation and follow-ups across multiple systems
- Untracked communication that can’t be audited or linked to client records
Email Communication Challenges in Accounting
Many accountants struggle to get timely responses from clients over email, which can disrupt workflows and delay key processes such as Making Tax Digital (MTD) submissions. Email open rates are falling quickly, with younger generations preferring modern messaging apps and clients in non-office-based sectors rarely reading emails. This materially slows down document collection and requires repeated follow-ups.
This not only creates inefficiencies but also contributes to deadline stress, missed submissions and penalties, not to mention poor client service. Valuable time is lost chasing information, escalating the administrative burden on teams already stretched by quarterly update requirements.
Effectiveness of WhatsApp in Client Communication
WhatsApp offers a more immediate and reliable way to reach clients. While people often put off reading emails, 80% of WhatsApp messages are read within the first five minutes, and the platform sees average open rates of 98%. That kind of responsiveness dramatically improves turnaround times on everything from rental figures to receipts.
The result? Faster document collection, less time spent chasing, and a more efficient MTD workflow overall. By making communication easier and quicker for both parties, WhatsApp allows firms to save valuable time and, ultimately, money.
How WhatsApp Can Streamline Tax Processes for Small Firms
WhatsApp can be an extremely helpful tool for MTD. Clients already use it to ask questions, share figures, and send images of receipts, especially when preparing for tax returns. Using WhatsApp for VAT deadline reminders or quarterly income updates can reduce email backlogs and improve client engagement. It’s particularly effective for reminding clients to share their figures in time for the new MTD for Income Tax deadlines.
Digital tax reminders using WhatsApp are simple, timely, and direct. This can dramatically cut the time spent chasing clients. You can also automate MTD communication through scheduled prompts or standard templates.
Fast communication for digital tax returns means better service, smoother operations, and fewer missed filings.
Integrating WhatsApp with Your MTD Toolkit
WhatsApp for Making Tax Digital works best when integrated into your broader MTD processes. MTD software with WhatsApp integration ensures that every conversation, instruction, and document is linked to your client communication records and available for review.
The best tools to use with WhatsApp for MTD help you manage client communications within your existing systems. Whether you use Microsoft Outlook, practice management software, and bookkeeping automation software such as Dext, AutoEntry, Hubdoc or Apron, linking these channels with Client WhatsApp communication saves time and improves accuracy.
This means you can automate MTD communication, track document sharing, and get client approvals faster, all whilst staying compliant with HMRC messaging requirements.
Digital tools for tax professionals should improve, not interrupt, how you work. With WhatsApp integrated into your MTD toolkit, you can respond quickly on the communications channels which work best for your professional teams and clients, whilst also ensuring your communications data is properly saved and retained centrally.
How ClientWindow Supports WhatsApp-Based Tax Communication
ClientWindow is business messaging software that integrates client WhatsApp conversations directly into your existing tools, including business email, practice management software and bookkeeping automation platforms.
This means your clients can message you from their usual WhatsApp, and the messages will appear in your preferred communications channel, including Outlook and Gmail, which your teams can then action and reply to as normal. Plus, it can integrate WhatsApp messages with your practice management software, so documents and client communications can be automatically saved directly with your client records.
It allows you to:
- Improve client communication for MTD by offering WhatsApp as a communications channel without compromising on compliance or management oversight
- Connect client WhatsApp with internal Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and practice management software
- Send automated tax reminders to your clients’ WhatsApp
- Receive client WhatsApp messages in your normal business email inbox and within your practice management software
- Automate WhatsApp message archiving for HMRC compliance
If your clients already use WhatsApp to send messages and ask questions, ClientWindow ensures those conversations are no longer siloed on standalone phones or personal devices. Instead, they become part of your secure digital tax record.
Frequently Asked Questions
ITSA stands for Income Tax Self Assessment. Under the new Making Tax Digital (MTD) for ITSA rules, self-employed individuals and landlords earning over £50,000 will need to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates to HMRC from April 2026. Those earning over £30,000 will follow in April 2027. You’ll need MTD-compatible software and a plan to manage client communications securely.
Yes. WhatsApp can be a practical way to remind clients about deadlines, request documentation, and confirm information. With tools like ClientWindow, you can automate these messages, ensuring everything is stored securely, and link communications to your client workflows, to ensure nothing is missed and your communications data is compliant to MTD regulations.
WhatsApp is becoming an essential tool for accountants preparing for Making Tax Digital (MTD).
This is because WhatsApp is one of the most effective ways to get responses from clients - faster and more consistent than email or calls. For busy clients, it feels more personal and less formal, which makes it easier to respond. Used properly and integrated with your practice management software, WhatsApp can help accountants collect tax information, send reminders, and streamline Making Tax Digital processes, all without adding to your team’s admin load.
Why Traditional Communication Fails Under Digital Tax Rules
WhatsApp for Making Tax Digital is more than a convenience. It’s a way to build a faster, clearer, and more visible workflow across your firm.
Client communication challenges for MTD are increasingly common. Outdated tools, like calls and emails, or untracked WhatsApp messages siloed on standalone phones, make it difficult to stay on top of client communications. These methods slow down your ability to collect documentation and increase the risk of incomplete or inaccurate submissions.
For MTD, these gaps create real risks:
- Missed or late filings due to slow responses
- Incomplete documentation and follow-ups across multiple systems
- Untracked communication that can’t be audited or linked to client records
Email Communication Challenges in Accounting
Many accountants struggle to get timely responses from clients over email, which can disrupt workflows and delay key processes such as Making Tax Digital (MTD) submissions. Email open rates are falling quickly, with younger generations preferring modern messaging apps and clients in non-office-based sectors rarely reading emails. This materially slows down document collection and requires repeated follow-ups.
This not only creates inefficiencies but also contributes to deadline stress, missed submissions and penalties, not to mention poor client service. Valuable time is lost chasing information, escalating the administrative burden on teams already stretched by quarterly update requirements.
Effectiveness of WhatsApp in Client Communication
WhatsApp offers a more immediate and reliable way to reach clients. While people often put off reading emails, 80% of WhatsApp messages are read within the first five minutes, and the platform sees average open rates of 98%. That kind of responsiveness dramatically improves turnaround times on everything from rental figures to receipts.
The result? Faster document collection, less time spent chasing, and a more efficient MTD workflow overall. By making communication easier and quicker for both parties, WhatsApp allows firms to save valuable time and, ultimately, money.
How WhatsApp Can Streamline Tax Processes for Small Firms
WhatsApp can be an extremely helpful tool for MTD. Clients already use it to ask questions, share figures, and send images of receipts, especially when preparing for tax returns. Using WhatsApp for VAT deadline reminders or quarterly income updates can reduce email backlogs and improve client engagement. It’s particularly effective for reminding clients to share their figures in time for the new MTD for Income Tax deadlines.
Digital tax reminders using WhatsApp are simple, timely, and direct. This can dramatically cut the time spent chasing clients. You can also automate MTD communication through scheduled prompts or standard templates.
Fast communication for digital tax returns means better service, smoother operations, and fewer missed filings.
Integrating WhatsApp with Your MTD Toolkit
WhatsApp for Making Tax Digital works best when integrated into your broader MTD processes. MTD software with WhatsApp integration ensures that every conversation, instruction, and document is linked to your client communication records and available for review.
The best tools to use with WhatsApp for MTD help you manage client communications within your existing systems. Whether you use Microsoft Outlook, practice management software, and bookkeeping automation software such as Dext, AutoEntry, Hubdoc or Apron, linking these channels with Client WhatsApp communication saves time and improves accuracy.
This means you can automate MTD communication, track document sharing, and get client approvals faster, all whilst staying compliant with HMRC messaging requirements.
Digital tools for tax professionals should improve, not interrupt, how you work. With WhatsApp integrated into your MTD toolkit, you can respond quickly on the communications channels which work best for your professional teams and clients, whilst also ensuring your communications data is properly saved and retained centrally.
How ClientWindow Supports WhatsApp-Based Tax Communication
ClientWindow is business messaging software that integrates client WhatsApp conversations directly into your existing tools, including business email, practice management software and bookkeeping automation platforms.
This means your clients can message you from their usual WhatsApp, and the messages will appear in your preferred communications channel, including Outlook and Gmail, which your teams can then action and reply to as normal. Plus, it can integrate WhatsApp messages with your practice management software, so documents and client communications can be automatically saved directly with your client records.
It allows you to:
- Improve client communication for MTD by offering WhatsApp as a communications channel without compromising on compliance or management oversight
- Connect client WhatsApp with internal Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and practice management software
- Send automated tax reminders to your clients’ WhatsApp
- Receive client WhatsApp messages in your normal business email inbox and within your practice management software
- Automate WhatsApp message archiving for HMRC compliance
If your clients already use WhatsApp to send messages and ask questions, ClientWindow ensures those conversations are no longer siloed on standalone phones or personal devices. Instead, they become part of your secure digital tax record.
