most early fears were unfounded. but not all of them.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
the 2023 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy barometer has detected a clear sign that this year’s tax season is working out better than expected … or should we say better than feared?
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comparing the barometer’s early results with those near the end of the season, we see that the fears of many practitioners were unwarranted. the fears of february are quite different from the experiences of march.
the question in the survey was “what are your chief concerns?” and in almost every category of concern, the numbers dropped between late winter and early spring.
clients and staff
the chief concern in february was irs operations, which was scaring 53 percent of respondents. but after two months of experience, only 40 percent were still worried about it. apparently the irs has been doing something right … or at least better.
but time did not heal all fears.
the second worst concern was clients late or unprepared, a perennial problem. no wonder almost half – 49 percent – expected it to happen again. and sure enough, it has. with most of the season behind them, 49 percent continue to say it’s a problem.
also at a statistical tie over time is concern with that bag of perpetual problems – technology and software, steady at 25 percent.
better than feared
but in most other categories of concern, things are turning out better than feared.
- tax code and reg changes: concern plunged from 25 percent to 16 percent.
- late and erroneous k1s, 1099s, etc: concern dropped from 32 percent to 23 percent.
- schedules k2 and k3: big nosedive from 33 percent to just 14 percent.
- general economic conditions: a significant dip from 30 percent to 25 percent.
- security, privacy, identity theft: big drop from 26 percent to 16 percent.
- setting aside time for planning: nice decline from 17 percent to 13 percent.
- crypto: way down from 17 percent to just 7 percent.
most other categories were pretty low to start with and stayed low as the season progressed.
one worsening
but one serious problem got worse: yes, staffing.
but the worsening wasn’t all that bad, percentagewise, rising from 42 to 48 percent.
respondent comments explained how the staff situation went from bad to worse.
“large hiring push in december but lost the majority of new hires during busy season,” says james chakires, of greater-chicago’s apex cpas. “the labor force is very difficult to keep. we have to change our hiring strategy. it is a brutal labor force.”
tim gehring, of gehring & farrwood, has had a similar experience.
“we’re nearing a point where time and efficiency are running thin, forcing us to add people in order to grow,” he says, “and more people tends to bring more problems. growing pains or hiring and firing as we try to find the right people.”
all in all, it seems that a lot of the stress we saw coming into the season has proven to be unfounded. the only thing to fear was fear itself … that and lack of staff.