January to March: the deadline arrives before the capacity does
The tax year gives an accountancy practice in the UK, or an accounting firm or CPA firm in the US, four very different quarters.
In the UK, the online Self Assessment return for 2025 to 2026 is due by 31 January 2027. Sole traders and landlords in the first Making Tax Digital for Income Tax group, those with qualifying income over £50,000 (turnover before expenses), also have an update for 6 April to 5 January due on 7 February. In the US, for the 2026 season the IRS expected about 164 million individual returns for tax year 2025 ahead of the 15 April deadline. Partnership returns (Form 1065) and S corporation returns (Form 1120-S) are both due on the 15th day of the third month after the tax year ends, which is 15 March for a calendar-year business.
The marketing job in this quarter is protecting capacity. In practice, that means campaigns narrowed to the client types you want (the landlord with a few properties, the company director, the S corporation owner), an enquiry form that says what you take, and one named person answering every enquiry inside a target time you set. In the peak weeks, a fast reply is part of the marketing. Read the quarter on enquiries received, the share that were the client type you wanted, and time to first answer against your own target.
Inside this quarter, paid media on Google Search, and on Meta where it fits, narrows to those client types, run by one accountable team. Lead generation adds a landing page that says who you take, and reads its results as the cost of each enquiry from a client type you want.
April to June: the next Making Tax Digital group, and a client's permission
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax started on 6 April 2026 for qualifying income over £50,000. The threshold falls to over £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and over £20,000 from 6 April 2028, and the update for 6 April to 5 April is due on 7 May. Each step brings a new group of sole traders and landlords who may start looking for an accountant who can handle the change. April to June is the time to publish guides written for the next group, in their words, before their start date.
In the US, an extension to file tax year 2025 returns until 15 October had to be requested by 15 April. Filers who extended still need their returns finished, so April to June suits offering that work.
The weeks after the rush also suit asking a pleased business client to recommend you in public, and for an accountant that request carries a confidentiality question: a named testimonial tells other owners who your client is. The ICAEW helpsheet says it is in order to use clients' testimonials if the client has consented, and the UK advertising code's testimonial rules include that marketing communications must not feature a testimonial without permission (rule 3.50) and that marketers must hold documentary evidence that a testimonial is genuine, with contact details for the person who gives it. So agree in writing what the client is happy to have shown (their name, their business, the work you did) and keep that consent, with their contact details, on file. Count the testimonials and introductions you win this quarter; they feed the slow channels that follow.
July to September: the quiet quarter that fills January
UK deadlines thin out. The second payment on account is due on 31 July, the first Making Tax Digital quarterly update (6 April to 5 July) on 7 August, and anyone who has not filed before, or did not need to last year, must tell HMRC by 5 October if they need a return. In the US, a calendar-year individual's estimated payment falls on 15 September.
Fewer deadlines leave room for the slow channels: guides for the late filer, the new landlord and the first-year company director, which need to exist before the searching starts, and referrals. HMRC-commissioned research published in 2015 found that 86% of small and mid-sized UK businesses used a professional tax agent in some capacity. Among those that had changed agent in the previous three years, 54% spontaneously cited recommendation as important, and a further 24% did so when prompted. That is eleven years old, so read it as direction, not a current rate. A TaxDome survey of more than 350 US decision-makers, reported in 2025, found that 58% of business clients found their current firm through a peer recommendation. TaxDome sells practice software, and the survey covers business clients only. In practice, this quarter builds the referral side: an introduction request after delivery, and relationships with the solicitors, bookkeepers and financial advisers who meet your clients first.
SEO and AI visibility work fills this quarter with guides written for those searches, reported on rankings and AI citations, though nobody can guarantee either. Content and social and email marketing carry the referral and follow-up side.
Summer suits outreach too. In the UK, sole traders and other types of partnerships are classed as individual subscribers under PECR, so cold email to sole traders, and to landlords who let in their own name, follows the rules for individuals. In the US, Circular 230 section 10.30 sets solicitation rules for practitioners on IRS matters. One of its conditions is that a lawful solicitation made by or on behalf of a practitioner eligible to practise before the IRS must clearly identify itself as a solicitation and, where it applies, name the source of the recipient list. The section's paragraph on communicating fee information also requires the practitioner to keep a copy of direct mail or e-commerce communications and the recipient list for at least 36 months from the date of the last transmission or use. If agency-run outreach quotes fees, those copies need handing to the firm.
October to December: sign off the January campaigns
UK paper returns for 2025 to 2026 must reach HMRC by 31 October 2026, and the quarterly update for 6 April to 5 October is due on 7 November. US individuals who requested an extension have until 15 October.
Landing pages, call tracking, the enquiry form and the follow-up sequence get built in this quarter, and a partner signs off every line now, while there is still time to change it. Search campaigns start before the last-minute searchers appear, with the budget capped at what the practice can serve.
The signature carries weight because the copy is the firm's. The ICAEW helpsheet says a firm remains responsible for marketing an agency does for it, and the AICPA Code says members must not do through others what they are prohibited from doing themselves. In January copy, two lines tend to need the partner's eye. One is the title. In the UK, "chartered accountant" is not a title anyone can adopt. In the US, California restricts the CPA title and bars titles such as "chartered accountant", subject to exceptions, and New York reserves the CPA title to people licensed or authorised under its law. The other is any claim about standing. ICAEW says firms should be careful not to make claims they cannot substantiate, and that a claim to be the leading practice in an area should state its basis on the face of the material. For practitioners eligible to practise before the IRS, Circular 230 section 10.30(a)(1) bars false, fraudulent, coercive, misleading or deceptive public communication concerning IRS matters. Those are the lines most January ads touch; your own body's rules, read in full, decide the rest.
The quarter has done its job if every January and April page is signed off and live before the first deadline search arrives.
Limited companies and corporations: calendars that ignore January
A limited company files its annual accounts with Companies House 9 months after its financial year ends and pays Corporation Tax 9 months and 1 day after the accounting period ends. A company with a 31 March year end therefore reaches its filing deadline in December, and one with a 30 June year end reaches it the following March. A US C corporation's return follows its own year end in the same way, due on the 15th day of the fourth month after it.
Year ends spread this work across the calendar, so its marketing is steadier than the sole-trader peak, and, for larger US businesses at least, a niche can pay. In the TaxDome survey, companies earning more than $1 million in annual revenue were twice as likely to hire a niche accounting firm as a generalist, and willing to pay up to 25% more. That is a vendor survey's claim.
For company work the numbers that matter are client agreements signed, annual fee per new client and cost per signed client by channel, kept apart from referral volume, alongside free capacity in each month of the year: a client won for a month you cannot serve is a cost.
The Social Target has worked with 600+ clients since 2017. We take on accountancy practices and accounting firms in the UK and the US, work across both countries' time zones, and quote in GBP or USD.
↳ Frequently asked
01A business client is happy to recommend us. Can I name them on my website?
Yes, with their consent, among other conditions. The ICAEW helpsheet says it is in order to use client testimonials if the client has consented, and the UK advertising code also requires you to hold evidence that a testimonial is genuine and the client's contact details. Agree in writing what is shown, because naming them also tells readers they are your client. In the US, check your state board of accountancy's advertising rules first.
02January is full by Christmas. Should I stop advertising or change who I advertise to?
Change who you advertise to rather than switching off. Narrow the campaigns to the client types you still have room for, such as company directors with a year end outside the peak, say on the enquiry form what you are taking on, and keep the guides and referral asks running. Stopping entirely means restarting paid campaigns cold in spring, when the next Making Tax Digital group is looking.
03Am I allowed to cold email sole traders and landlords?
In the UK, the ICO says sole traders and other types of partnerships are classed as individual subscribers, and PECR treats them the same as individuals. That means the rules for emailing individuals apply to them, and to landlords who let in their own name, so build the list from people who asked to hear from you. In the US, a solicitation on IRS matters made by or for an IRS-eligible practitioner must clearly say it is a solicitation, which is one of several conditions.
04Who is responsible if my agency publishes something my professional body would not allow?
Under ICAEW and AICPA rules, you are. The ICAEW helpsheet says firms may outsource marketing to agencies but remain responsible for any marketing done on their behalf, whatever the agency's reputation. The AICPA Code says a member may not have others do what the member is prohibited from doing. Read every page and ad before it goes live, and keep the approval on file.
05Can I use CPA or chartered accountant in my ads in every state?
Not without checking. California's Business and Professions Code limits who may use the CPA title and bars titles such as chartered accountant, with exceptions. New York restricts the CPA title to people licensed or authorised under its Education Law. Those are two states, not the whole US, so confirm your own state board's rules before an ad runs.
06Will Making Tax Digital change how I market to sole traders?
It changes who is looking. Under HMRC's schedule, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to sole traders and landlords (unless exempt) whose qualifying income, judged on an earlier tax return, is over £50,000 from April 2026, over £30,000 from April 2027 and over £20,000 from April 2028. Each step creates a new group that may want help, so write for it before its start date.