What Your CA Actually Needs From You at Year-End (and What They Don't)
For individuals and business owners: the short list that makes filing season faster, cheaper and calmer for you and your CA.
Every March, your CA sends a message asking for “all your bank statements”. You send some, forget one account, and then spend April answering questions about payments you don’t remember making.
It doesn’t have to work that way. Here’s what your CA actually needs from you, and what you can stop worrying about.
What they need
Every account, every month. Not just your main salary account: the savings account you rarely use, the joint account, the HUF account, the company’s current account. A missing account is the single biggest cause of delays, because your CA can’t know what they haven’t seen.
The bank’s own statement. The PDF or Excel file you download from net banking is exactly right. There’s no need to re-type it, convert it or tidy it up. Screenshots are the one thing that doesn’t work.
Answers to a few questions, while you still remember. Your CA can work out most transactions alone. A handful only you can explain: a transfer to a friend, a cash withdrawal, a payment that could be personal or business. Answering those in June takes five minutes. Answering them in March takes an afternoon of digging.
A heads-up about anything unusual. Sold property or shares, received a large gift, lent money to your own company, started a side business. One line in a message saves a lot of back-and-forth later.
What they don’t need
- Your categories. Labelling transactions is your CA’s job. You only need to explain the ones they ask about.
- Perfect files. Send the statement exactly as the bank gives it.
- Everything at once in March. Monthly or quarterly is far better for both of you.
Making it easy
Many CAs now give clients a simple way to see their own transactions and answer questions directly, instead of over WhatsApp. If yours uses Lekhavo, you’ll sign in with your Google account, using the email you gave your CA, and see your own transactions on your phone. You can mark the payee and category for the ones only you can explain. There’s nothing to install and no password to remember. Here’s a one-minute look.
The less your CA has to chase, the more of their time goes into actually saving you tax.