irs tops list of busy season problems

forget covid. the underfunded, understaffed, underequipped, underappreciated, misunderstood irs is the top problem.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

it probably won’t surprise you that the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer identifies irs operations as the biggest problem tax practitioners face today. in fact, we’ve never seen such widespread agreement among respondents—an astonishing 80 percent of them.

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that consensus indicates that there really is a problem at the irs. it’s underfunded, understaffed, underequipped, and, at this point, underappreciated and misunderstood.

the real problem is that the problem is creating problems. irs staff can’t keep up with correspondence, yet the computers, even though working off an operating system that dates back to the kennedy administration, keep churning out moot notices and undeserved penalties.

mark e. rowe in new boston, texas,  suffering a “somewhat worse year” so far, nails that particular problem rather well. “significantly increased workload expected,” he tells us. “continued erroneous notices to clients from the irs expected, exclusion from e-filing due to irs processing delays.”

an anonymous respondent expressed a similar sentiment, telling us, “i have a small client load, but dealing with the irs and irs erroneous notices is becoming a major headache and it’s very time consuming to even get through to the irs, let alone deal with them and the issues.”

the age-old problem

staffing issues were the second most common concern, touching 44 percent. (this doesn’t include a practitioner who got a “staff infection” in his knee, which was not a common complaint.)

despite the prevalence of reported staff problems, nobody has much to say about it. presumably, it’s the age-old problem of finding qualified accountants and keeping them happy despite long hours, face masks, and remote offices.

the crunch

the third most common problem—half as common as the irs problem yet still big—is “clients late or unprepared,” a headache for 41 percent of respondents.

accountants haven’t had much to say about their clients, maybe because there’s nothing new about clients showing up on april 14 with shoeboxes full of receipts, statements, canceled checks, and mouse droppings.

or, as one respondent puts it, “the crunch—late receipt of info from clients feb. 15 to april 15—unreasonable timeframe.”

marie drew, a sole practitioner in cincinnati, expresses some sympathy for her clients. “i deal with very small businesses and sole props with under $500,000 in revenue,” drew says. “the complexity of being in business is really getting out of hand for these folks.”

no wonder they’re late, right? and no wonder they need a tax professional.

too many clients

one anonymous respondent, the manager of a small practice, has a different kind of client problem, one which pops up a few times in the survey. “too many clients,” the respondent says. “i know that shouldn’t be a problem, but we are at capacity with current clients, and other cpas are jumping ship right and left. we have stopped accepting new clients.”

obviously, that practitioner’s problem is another practitioner’s opportunity.

late paperwork

related to the late-client issue is the fifth most common problem—late or erroneous k1s, 1099s, etc., a problem with 31 percent of respondents.

the fourth most common problem relates to clients and the irs: dealing with economic recovery services, such as ppp, eidl, erc, etc.

tony coladonato, of coladonato, cpa, serving businesses in greater philadelphia, is feeling the pinch from both those sides, reporting that his main problem is “reconciling advance child tax credits between irs records & clients.”

and an anonymous respondent somewhere out there in the trenches of tax prep shared a similar notion: “potential legislation concerns. erc implications will result in filing delays and waiting in erc refunds may cause cash flow issues. staffing may cause longer lead time in getting projects completed.”

the other big issues:

• tax code and reg changes: 29 percent
• covid: 28 percent
• the general economic situation: 26 percent
• new workflows or processes: 21 percent.
• new pricing and fee pressures: 21 percent.
• security and privacy: 21 percent
• tech/software problems: 19 percent.

posted on march 17, 2022