'It's great value, very thorough, and I love it. We 100% trust the software's figures.'
Buhir Rafiq is Principal and Director of RX Virtual Finance and Total Books Accountants. He specialises in pharmacy sector accounting – and that is the focus of RX Virtual Finance - offering expert advice for pharmacists.
Total Books Accountants Ltd is an all-round accountancy practice for small and medium sized businesses.
Buhir’s practices combine niche expertise, personalised service, and a streamlined, tech-driven approach for around 110 clients in total.
When Buhir decided to move his practices to TaxCalc, he was looking for a solution that would save time, improve compliance, and deliver outstanding support.
Since that time, he has remained highly satisfied with the product and now serves as an ambassador, recommending TaxCalc to many accountancy colleagues both directly and through sector-specific social media groups.
I love being able to pick out a reporting pack at the end and instantly download the sections I want for a client.
The system is just easier to use, and client service has improved.
Buhir Rafiq, Principal and Director, RX Virtual Finance and Total Books Accountants
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“The time saving benefits in TaxCalc are, essentially, down to the fact everything is all in one place and easy to navigate. If I need to go back in - as an example, I’m doing ten years of personal tax returns for a historic let property campaign, it’s very easy for me to dip in and out of the software and double check returns.
"The time saving for me is to be able to log in and have the information at hand instantly for all of the years - exactly where I need it - in a second.”
Busy season boost with better workflow
Emphatic contrast in customer service
Firm Name: Total Books and RFX Virtual Finance
Location: Cardiff, Bristol and Newport
Practice Size: 1 partner, 4 staff (2 in-house, 2 off-shore), 110 clients
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Favourite features
Integration with Xero is another aspect of TaxCalc that he finds highly useful.
“Being able to bring in the data directly from Xero at the press of a button - that is another very big time saver,” Buhir says.
“We also use the function to upload a trial balance (TB), and we’re able to bring in an Excel TB with 100% accuracy each and every time, it’s all uploaded in an instant as well.”
Support and service
TaxCalc’s excellent customer support – available by phone - is a major reason Buhir always recommends us. The team are all UK-based and trained in accountancy, and they can be contacted by telephone every working day, with very short wait times.
“To have that availability of human interaction is worth its weight in gold. If I’m stuck, I can ring up, and someone will walk me through it. So many other SAAS tax and accounting software companies provide AI chat bot support or have very long wait times to speak to an advisor. This just doesn't work. Another reason why we love the TaxCalc team.”
Buhir adds: “I trust TaxCalc for being ethical, which comes from the top tier of management and works its way down.”
Several times senior management has supported Buhir and his colleagues with extra help at the onboarding and implementation stage at no extra cost, he adds. This enabled “massive time savings” during setup, initial training and then in using the software, he says.
‘Far better than anything before’ – practice thrilled with product and support
Customer stories / Total Books and RX Virtual Finance
TaxCalc has transformed the way Buhir’s team works, making everyday tasks faster and more efficient. He pointed to the fully integrated nature of the software – the fact that data flows easily from one product to another – as key.
He says: “The ability to add fields within the accounts prep is a massive thing for us.
If you have a more detailed and structured chart of accounts for a specific reason adding ledger accounts is easy, another massive time saver is it understands the FRS and what goes in where.
“For instance, if you're taking a certain type of filing structure, small to medium-sized accounts on the limited company, it auto-populates the relevant fields to the relevant chart of accounts for that filing structure. That’s another massive time saver.”
In the cloud
Buhir also enjoys the benefits of working from the cloud, using TaxCalc’s Cloud Connect.
Compliance and confidence
TaxCalc’s thoroughness gives Buhir peace of mind on compliance and accuracy.
“TaxCalc’s compliance checks are thorough in ensuring you follow a process that is very HMRC-compliant. It's very careful to follow correct HMRC guidance ensure you've completed everything. So, it gives us confidence in our job as well.
“I feel confident that what I’m submitting is right, and that’s critical. When we’re pulling out calculations from the TaxCalc software, we 100% trust the software’s figures,” he says.
The fact the software points out incorrect figures, thanks to features like Check and Finish, is a big help, he says.
“As an example, let’s take foreign tax shares. Say there’s a 15% foreign tax credit allowance for an American share. If I've accidentally put in 25% by mistake, it’s clever enough to know that actually there's only a 15% foreign tax credit allowed.”
Buhir highlights several features that make TaxCalc stand out for his practice, with the first of these features being within our Accounts Production product.
He says: "It’s a breath of fresh air. The main thing with the cloud option is I can connect into it anywhere, wherever I am. That is straightforward. Previously, when using TaxFiler our last tax software, this had a local server link, that always had to be on."
"Cloud works very well because I can dip in and out wherever I am, whenever I want."
He provides an example of a recent situation where the cloud model has proven its worth.
"We had a bereavement recently and I had weeks and weeks of work that were all up in the air in that period.
"Things were all over the place, but when I was able to steal some time to catch up - to be able to just switch my laptop on away from the office and have my data instantly ready to work on – that was a lifesaver for me."
What's the overall verdict?
Buhir’s verdict on TaxCalc is clear:
“For the last year and a half, it’s been very easy for me to say why I like TaxCalc.
“TaxCalc is definitely great value for money, particularly for the number of licences we’ve got. It’s just fantastic.
“TaxCalc is very thorough. I love it – that’s why I’m a brand ambassador. I’m definitely not switching.
"A big Shout out to Andy North (Chief Engagement Officer) and the team for making me feel like an important customer, and not just another number amongst your thousands of accountancy practices around the UK.”
