Moving to TaxCalc? Move the client file once, not twice

In short: if your practice is moving to TaxCalc this year, the move itself is the cheapest moment you will ever get to fix document management. The client data is already being re-keyed, the habits already re-set, the team already in change mode. Pair TaxCalc with a document layer that syncs with it, and one migration buys you both.

This is a forced-move year for a lot of UK practices. IRIS retired PTP and Keytime on 31 March 2026; both products are now read-only, with no further regulatory updates or renewals. Every firm that ran them is filing 2025/26 returns in something new.

TaxCalc runs dedicated switching support for PTP and Keytime firms, and for many practices that is where the search ends. A software move you did not choose is still a move you get to use.

The mistake firms make when they change tax software

They move the tax data and leave the client file behind. The migration checklist covers clients, returns and filing credentials. Nobody budgets for the documents and emails around the returns: the schedules behind the computations, the client's approval, the engagement letter, the thread where the tricky question got answered.

So the firm arrives in its new tax software with the same scattered evidence it had before. And the second migration, the document one, quietly never happens, because nobody wants to put the team through change twice in two years.

That instinct is right about the pain and wrong about the timing. The expensive part of any migration is not the data. It is the disruption: re-keyed records, re-trained staff, clients told things have changed. Run two migrations a year apart and you pay that cost twice. Run them in the same window and they share it.

The timing pressure is real, too. MTD for Income Tax now has sole traders and landlords over £50,000 on quarterly cycles, so the record-chase that used to happen once a year happens four times. A client file that gets rebuilt every January will not keep up with a quarterly rhythm.

What TaxCalc covers, and what has to live somewhere

TaxCalc handles preparation and filing, and it does that job properly. What it is not trying to be is the home for everything around the return: the supporting evidence, the client correspondence, the queries and approvals, the signed documents.

Without a document layer, that material lives where it lands. Evidence sits across drives and inboxes. Approvals live in email threads that leave when people do. The audit trail gets assembled manually, under pressure, after the fact.

With TaxCalc and Workiro paired, the file builds itself as the work happens. Clients sync automatically between the two systems, so there are no duplicate records to maintain. Computations, schedules and evidence are stored together against the client. Review notes, queries and approvals are threaded where the whole team can see them. Emails file themselves. Signatures are requested from Workiro and the signed document lands against the right client in both systems.

When HMRC asks, the file is already built.

The integration is getting deeper, not older

Buying software is buying a direction, not a snapshot. This spring, TaxCalc announced an enhanced strategic collaboration with Workiro: TaxCalc outputs, including tax returns, CT600s and P11Ds, are automatically captured and structured in Workiro, with the embedded integration available to customers from late April 2026.

TaxCalc's Chief Product Officer described the aim as giving customers "the ability to build a best of breed technology stack": specialist tools, each excellent at its job, working as one.

So here is a selection rule that costs nothing: when you pick software this year, ask every vendor to show you the roadmap. We show ours in every demo.

Will fifteen years of client files survive the move?

This is the fear that keeps firms on old systems, and it is rational. The record you are protecting is the practice's memory, and a botched migration is not a risk anyone wants to own.

It is also a solved problem. Lloydbottoms, a UK chartered accountancy practice, moved fifteen years of client records, hundreds of thousands of documents, from an ageing office server into Workiro with no downtime, and their clients sign and share through secure links with no logins at all. "Filing is quicker, and finding things later is far easier," says Susan Rickerby, the firm's practice manager.

The mechanics are deliberately unheroic. Migration is assisted, firms are typically up and running within 21 days, and the old system stays live during cutover. Nothing is switched off on faith.

One more reason not to leave historic files in retired software: IRIS itself notes that PTP and Keytime are read-only after March 2026 and that future installation of the software cannot be guaranteed. A read-only archive on an unsupported product, on hardware that will eventually be replaced, is not a retention strategy.

Where Workiro fits

Workiro is document management built for accounting firms. Each client gets one record holding their documents, emails, tasks, approvals and signatures, with the audit trail written automatically, and the whole thing synced to the TaxCalc client so nothing is filed twice.

If your practice is mid-move, or putting the document decision off until the dust settles, book a demo and bring your migration plan. We will show you what one move looks like instead of two. Not ready for that? Start with how TaxCalc firms stay audit-ready all year or the TaxCalc integration in detail.

Common questions

Does Workiro integrate with TaxCalc?

Yes. TaxCalc clients sync automatically into Workiro, documents are stored from TaxCalc directly against the correct client, and tax correspondence is captured through the Outlook integration. The enhanced integration announced in spring 2026 automatically captures TaxCalc outputs including tax returns, CT600s and P11Ds.

Does Workiro replace TaxCalc?

No. TaxCalc handles preparation and filing. Workiro is the document layer alongside it, holding the working papers, emails, approvals and signatures that support the returns, linked back to the TaxCalc client record.

How long does moving to Workiro take?

Firms are typically up and running within 21 days. Migration is assisted, and the old system stays live during cutover, so there is no leap-of-faith moment.

We are moving from PTP or Keytime. What happens to our historic documents and emails?

They move with you, into a classified, searchable structure, so prior-year evidence stays retrievable in seconds rather than trapped in a read-only product. If you are new to document management systems, start with what a document management system actually is.