Case studies · Accountancy practice, Ireland
Automating VAT client reminders with Claude Code
An accountancy practice in Ireland was chasing hundreds of clients for their VAT records every period, one email at a time. We used Claude Code, Anthropic's coding and automation tool, to build a reminder system that works from the practice's client list and filing calendar. Each reminder round waits on an approval screen until a person at the practice has reviewed it, and Claude Code then sends it from each handler's own mailbox. A confirmation tracker records which clients have sent everything, so they drop out of later rounds. The system has been in regular use every VAT cycle, and we estimate it saves about twelve days of admin a year.
In regular use Sent through Claude Code every VAT cycle.
Client identity withheld to respect confidentiality.
The starting point
The practice files VAT returns for hundreds of clients. Before each filing deadline, handlers ask clients for their sales and purchase records, then chase the ones who have not sent them. That meant four rounds of emails per VAT period, each written and sent one at a time.
A round took about half a day of a handler's time. Clients with several companies received several near-identical emails, and clients who had already sent everything were still chased, which produced replies someone then had to answer.
The practice already had the two things the job depends on: a client list showing who handles each client, and a filing calendar with the dates for each period.
What we implemented
Claude Code wrote the reminder system and runs it. Before each reminder date it reads the client list and the filing calendar and works out who still needs a reminder.
Each email goes from the handler's own mailbox, not from a system address. Clients see a message from the person they deal with, and their replies land with that person, so nothing about how the practice handles replies has to change.
Clients with several companies get one email listing them all, so nobody receives five versions of the same request.
Each round waits on an approval screen. A person at the practice reads the list, previews the emails and removes anyone who should not be chased. Only then does Claude Code send it.
When a client confirms they have sent everything, that is recorded in a confirmation tracker and they are left out of later rounds. This is what stops the unnecessary replies.
Using it, step by step
1What the person supplies
The current client list, with the handler for each client, and the filing calendar for the period. The practice wrote the wording of each reminder once, in its own voice.
2What happens next
Before each reminder date the round is prepared: who is due a reminder, grouped by client, from which handler's mailbox, with confirmed clients left out. It then waits for approval.
3What they check before using it
Someone at the practice checks the list and previews the emails, paying particular attention to new clients, changed contact details and anyone with an open query, then approves the round. Afterwards they watch the tracker for confirmations.
Example output
The approval screen for one round. Each client shows the handler, which reminders have gone, and whether the client has confirmed. Clients who have confirmed are not in the round, and nothing is sent until someone approves it.
Human checks
- A person approves every round before it is sent. Nothing goes out automatically.
- Emails go from the handler's own address, so the handler sees the replies and deals with them as before.
- The client list belongs to the practice and is checked each period, because a wrong email address or handler would mean a wrong reminder.
- The tracker is checked before the final round, so nobody who has already sent everything gets an overdue notice.
Results
In regular use Sent through Claude Code every VAT cycle.
- Estimate
About 12 days a year of handler time no longer spent on chasing. Based on about half a day per round, four rounds per VAT period and six periods a year. Not timed.
- Measured
Hundreds of clients chased each VAT cycle from one approved list.
- Observed
Every VAT cycle Rounds have been sent through Claude Code every VAT cycle since it went live.
Measured: counted or timed. Estimate: worked out from the old routine, not timed. Target: what the client is aiming for. Observed: seen in use, not a number.
Limitations
- It is only as good as the client list. Out-of-date contact details produce wrong reminders, which is why a person checks every round.
- It chases for records. It does not check what clients send; handlers still review the records themselves.
- The time saving is an estimate from the practice's own figures for the old routine, not a timed comparison.
Which Claude product did what
- Claude Code
- Wrote the reminder system and sends each round once it has been approved. Anthropic's coding and automation tool. It runs on a computer, can read and write files, write software and carry out multi-step jobs that a person has set up and approved.
- Claude Team
- Not used in this work. Anthropic's business plan for Claude. Staff use Claude in a browser or the desktop app, share projects, and connect it to systems such as Microsoft 365. The workspace and its data belong to the business.
How Claude Team, Claude Code and software built with Claude differ
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- Building a private document knowledge base with Claude (Architecture practice, Ireland)
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