Reckon on Wednesday announced a partnership with Refund Manager, an Australian fee-from-refund specialist, which will allow its users to automate tax return refund fees from within the software in a bid to streamline the fee-from-refund process.
The fee-from-refund payment structure offers accounting firms the option to deduct their fees from taxpayer refunds paid out by the ATO, as opposed to charging an upfront fee for the preparation and submission of personal tax returns.
The automated service was on Wednesday made available to Reckon users via the platform’s Elite software, where users can import individual tax lodgements and EFT reconciliation reports to build bulk payment files and expedite payment processing.
Refund Manager’s integration, however, comes at a cost. After 14 days, Reckon users will be prompted to pay for the service, which starts at $690 a year, and limits users to 400 refunds annually.
Campbell Ross, strategic partnerships manager at Reckon, said the software provider sought the partnership to cut the data-intensive hassle out of the fee-from-refund process faced by its users.
“Dealing with the hassle of processing fee from refunds is known to be tedious and time-consuming for accountants,” Mr Ross said. “We have chosen to partner with Refund Manager to give our clients using Reckon Elite a much simpler and more efficient way of managing fee from refunds.
“Simply complete the return, mark it as a fee from refund and raise the invoice. Refund Manager will take care of the rest.”
Refund Manager CEO Steven Gibson welcomed the partnership, highlighting the control of trust accounts afforded to accountants through the software.
“We created an automated system that seamlessly integrates with other tax lodgement software. Once you’re on our system, you can manage fee from refunds in just two minutes a day,” Mr Gibson said.
“The most important thing is that Refund Manager never requires you to give up control of your trust accounts. We give you the power through software to more efficiently manage and distribute funds.”
Refund Manager rolled out the first iteration of its fee from refund solution in 2008, and has since managed more than half a million refunds with a total value of more than $1.3 billion.
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