9 big ways the irs could help accountants

number 9 created by gaps between many small green plastic 9'sdeadlines could change. so could options.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the taxpayer advocacy service’s mission is to make life easier for taxpayers, but when it succeeds, it alleviates the burden on tax practitioners as well.

more: flexibility in a time of pandemic | what are irs faqs worth? | the top six irs #fails this tax season (so far)
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

with that mission in mind, the tas has set itself a serious series of nine objectives for fiscal year 2021. each one touches on the services of cpas and tax practitioners, so it’s worthwhile to follow how successful the tas is.

needless to say, 2020 has been an especially challenging year. in addition to the myriad ways the irs could stand a little improvement, the events of the first semester have complicated matters exponentially.

cpas, eas and other tax practitioners need to be aware that if the tas succeeds in any of these objectives, something will change within the irs.

deadlines are going to change.

procedures and compliance are likely to allow new options.

still, unforeseen issues are going to crop up and yesterday’s rules will be different from tomorrow’s.

it’s a brave new world for taxpayers, tax collectors, and tax practitioners. may they go boldly where none have gone before.

the top 9 tas objectives for 2021

  1. work with the irs to relieve taxpayer burden by developing procedures to address the covid-19 crisis and future crises. success here will depend on how well the irs can build flexibility into new compliance initiatives.
  2. encourage the irs to prioritize extended use of electronic communication into all functions – email, conference calls, digital signatures, etc.
  3. encourage the irs to extend the term of streamlined installment agreements to 84 months, precluding the need to submit new financials for extensions later and generally speeding up the application process.
  4. encourage the irs office of appeals to resume in-person conferences as soon as safe.
  5. encourage the office of the chief counsel to issue more formal guidance for covid-related issues by making faqs authoritative even if obsolete later.
  6. encourage the occ to toll (delay) judicial filing deadlines to the fullest extent possible.
  7. encourage the occ to be flexible with taxpayers who no longer have a prepayment forum because they missed a deadline.
  8. utilize tas’s rapid response team and other mechanisms to identify and address emerging disaster-related issues‚ current and future.
  9. work with irs to alleviate taxpayer confusion caused by the backlog of time-sensitive notices.

5 responses to “9 big ways the irs could help accountants”

  1. jennifer lorenzen

    i’m so glad that i’m not the only one who sees april 15th as being unrealistic as an initial filing deadline. given the june fiscal year end of the government, i think that may 15th is about as far as they will allow us to push it. that little bit could help in easing the stress of the season. i would still be filing a lot of extensions but may have a better grasp on reasonable extension payments for my clients.

    i agree 100% with sheri regarding the constant change in tax laws. rather than making them simpler, they keep making them more complex. the only silver lining is job security. in my practice, i’m not taking complex clients. i don’t have the time or staff to keep up with everything. i’ll leave that to bigger firms. i know my lane and want to stay within it and be successful there.

  2. alex binstock

    i think it unrealistic to file by april 15. most firms just automatically file extensions for clients, but to do an adequate job you need to evaluate the clients projected tax before filing the extension. also the compacted filing date creates undue hardship for all in the profession especially the females who have other jobs like raising children households etc. they are away from their homes numerous hours for months just to comply with this ludicrous ancient filing deadline. why not try filing individual returns 3 1/2 months after the taxpayers birthday. that spreads the season to an annual workload, benefiting the profession as well as the irs. flow through tax returns would still be required to be on the calendar year. the timing of the tax dollars would be deferred for the first year, but the total tax dollars would be the same on an annual basis. this would relieve to long hours for months and the profession can work like every other profession, somewhat normal working hours.
    just an idea!

  3. jordan saletko

    everything i read is correct. the april 15th date is nearly impossible to get to because of 1099’s of all types and the annual changes in the law. most of them are unrealistic, to begin with.

    irs is taking orders from congress where their members know a lot less than tax preparers do.

    why set a $10,000 limit on state taxes?

    why cut out expenses that a working person must pay for in order to do his job?

    why change the tax credit for dependents even tho they had a little bit of income?

    why, why why?

    so congress said we did something for all the money they get paid plus expenses?

    take the tax changes away from congress and give it the tax preparers and accountants who have been doing their thing for years.

    anything is better than what we are getting from congress.

  4. sheri allshouse

    may 15th would be better, as its too much work in a short period of time.

    however, the deadline isn’t the real problem, its the constant change in the tax law and the complexity, and the customers delay in providing information.

    we can’t control the first, but we can control the 2nd.

  5. brian donlan

    we must have a realistic due date.

    with delayed brokerage & k1 reporting, april 15th is no longer manageable. the stress created is driving professionals from our industry.

    in your opinion, is a may 15th deadline possible?