tax season

ten irs problems that need solutions

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unhappy man waiting on phone in office

how good is better than terrible?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

every year, america’s national taxpayer advocate – in recent years it’s been erin m. collins – presents an annual report to congress. the report identifies successes and failures of and recommendations for the internal revenue service.

more: treasury ig sees progress at irs | vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep | tax pros are expanding and earning more | with fresh funding, irs shows service improvements | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks | top tax vendors caught red-handed selling private taxpayer data
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

this year’s report praises the irs for its progress since the worst of the covid-19 pandemic, but it finds plenty of room for improvement.

“the year 2023 was one of extraordinary transition for the irs and therefore for taxpayers,” collins writes. “despair has turned to cautious optimism.”
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help your tax clients, help yourself

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beware the opportunity graveyard.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

many opportunities only come along once. the way to be successful is to not let them pass by without acting on them or taking advantage of them.

more on tax season: what’s your value to your tax clients? | are you excited about tax season?
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spotting opportunities is quite easy if you are looking for them – and extremely difficult if you don’t have a clue of client needs or wants.
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get clients to understand firm processes … or say goodbye

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woman in a business suit waving a red flag

with just a little advanced marketing, you can get paid year-round and have more satisfied clients.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

when i’m frustrated, here’s how i explain the importance to clients of letting us work our process:

“when you get your car repaired, you don’t look over the mechanic’s shoulder and tell him which wrench to use. the same principle applies to us. if you knew the best ways to prepare tax returns, you should become our competitor.”

more: train now before it costs you down the road | keep clients from “balance due” shock | it’s ok to say no to clients (even the large ones) | you train your clients, whether you mean to or not | business owners face one of three exits | how small firms can win the talent wars | do you know your turnaround time?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

let’s be perfectly honest with each other.

there’s a reason you aren’t actively training clients to allow you to work efficiently. you’re afraid that you’ll lose clients.

i guarantee that you will.
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reader to irs: stop whining and get to work

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frustrated woman typing on laptop

an accountant has had enough of broken promises.

editor’s note: a reader shared with us an open letter sent to the irs. we removed some capitalization, bold/italic type and extra punctuation, but every word is just as written.

open letter via priority mail; delivery signature required

the honorable daniel werfel, commissioner
internal revenue service
1111 constitution ave, nw
washington, dc 20224

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

re: aicpa presentation 11-14-23. please stop complaining about budgets. focus on setting priorities, allocating resources, taxpayer bill of rights and the strategic operating plan like the rest of us out here; stop whining and just do your job.
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are you excited about tax season?

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woman working at two monitors

if not, take time to determine why.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

successful people are happy with their practices and what they do and get joy from interacting and helping clients. i know a lot of accountants who continuously complain about tax season – yet they make most of their money during the period.

more: nine tax season resources that get forgotten | eight ways to charm a client | you’re only as good as your last screw-up
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do they expect someone to knock on their door with a wheelbarrow of money to hand them? if they are financially secure, why do they keep working? if they are not, then, duh! either do it or find something else, but stop complaining. better yet, look at all the benefits from what you do (if you need me to tell you the benefits then find something else to do).
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treasury ig sees progress at irs

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bar charts
comparison of individual return inventory carried over to the next filing season

backlogs cleared, fraud detected.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the treasury inspector general for tax administration has issued a report on the 2023 filing season, and it is generally complimentary to the irs.

more: vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep | tax pros are expanding and earning more | with fresh funding, irs shows service improvements | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks | top tax vendors caught red-handed selling private taxpayer data
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

one big accomplishment: by feb. 2, 2023, the irs had cleared the entire carryover inventory of unprocessed individual tax returns received in 2022 – a backlog of 447,000 paper returns and 445,000 amended returns.
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eight ways to build busy-season stamina

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attitude is key, but can only do so much.

by sandi leyva
the complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms

busy season is just around the corner. can you feel the excitement? or the dread?

here are eight ways to boost your stamina and minimize burnout for those of you who are working long hours in the weeks ahead.

more: five things that clients don’t know about accountants | are your revenue projections realistic? | six strategies to make more without working more | the art of prompt engineering for accountants | calculate your business relationship ratios | five ways to acquire more clients | five stages of any business | put your linkedin profile to work | what’s in a (domain) name? plenty
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

1. understand the physical limitations of “willpower.”

according to scientists, our willpower is replenished every morning after a good night’s sleep. it’s strongest in the morning (even if you’re an evening person like me), and it wanes throughout the day. the more stress you’re under, the faster it depletes during the day, and sometimes your willpower runs out before the day does.
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three ways to improve next tax season

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you’ve survived 2023. here are some key lessons.

by seth fineberg
at large

in accounting, you know that tax season doesn’t end in april, as it often extends well into october. so, now that another season has come and gone and you’ve endured all the things you swore you’d never do again this year, what will be different in 2024 and beyond?

more fineberg: jeremy sulzmann: can intuit mend fences with accountants at qb connect? | meet basis, the new ai bookkeeper on the block | is this when accountants start taking freshbooks seriously? | you’re doing email wrong  |  careful… you may be advising! | when live events fail | getting real: accounting tech decisions you need to make today | accounting tech doesn’t have to be daunting | who’s in control? you? or your clients? |  time management rule #1 for accountants |  plan to go ‘live’ post tax season |  why vc is a bigger threat than ai  |   what does taking control of your firm mean? | accountants need each other more than ever | marchternity: just say ‘no’ | some thoughts on in-person events | so you think you know accountants? | what bogs down accountants

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every year, i speak to tax pros and accountants with tax work at their practice’s core. i listen, i read what they share on social media, and it always seems to be the same. they swear they’ll get rid of clients who regularly extend into october. still, they must hound those to the irs deadline. they rail against the irs and lack of guidance, or the hours spent on the phone trying to get answers or to resolve an issue for their clients. they exclaim, “this is the last year i’m going to…” and yet, little to nothing of significance changes. with more accountants getting increasingly frustrated with their careers and fewer coming into the profession, it is up to you to say what will change.

so, again, i ask you all, what do you need to change to make it more enjoyable, bearable and even productive for yourself?

here are a few suggestions based on my observations. take them for what you will.

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vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep

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black ore emerges from stealth with $60 million in funding to launch tax autopilot, an “autonomous” tax prep app for cpas and accounting firms.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
via black ore

black ore.ai, an austin, texas-based ai platform for financial services, bolts out of the gate with $60 million in financing led by a16z and oak hc/ft. the company plans to use the funds to onboard new customers, grow its team and accelerate the development of additional ai products across financial services.

kapovski
shinar

black ore was founded by veteran entrepreneurs, ceo eyal shinar and cto pavel kapovski, who have proven track records building and operating global fintech brands with ai and machine learning technologies. shinar previously founded fundbox, a $1 billion fintech unicorn powering payments and lending solutions for smbs. kapovski previously led r&d at cme group and spearheaded the development of machine-learning technology used by globally regulated banks and financial institutions. they are joined by a powerful team from leading companies such as adobe, baker tilly, cisco, ey, google, goldman sachs, grant thornton, nasa, pwc and ramp.

black ore offers an ai and automation platform that accelerates core workflows for financial services businesses and simplifies the experience for their clients. as part of its launch, black ore also announced its flagship product, tax autopilot, which combines its proprietary ai technology with federal and state tax codes and regulations to simplify the tax preparation and review process for cpas and accounting firms. future product offerings will target wealth management, financial advisory and planning, insurance services and more.

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train now before it costs you down the road

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your time investment now could reap dividends during tax season. 

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

we’ve all heard it.

ask if an assigned project has been completed and get the, “it’s done, but …” followed by a few reasons why said project is still – let’s be honest – incomplete.

more: keep clients from “balance due” shock | stop clients from performing “favors” | control your time: avoid ambush meetings and calls | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity | six ways to create a millennial-friendly firm
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

let’s examine how we got a “done but” society. a lot of this will sound like, “back in my day, sonny …” old man nonsense, and a lot of it is.

however, i promise you a solution after my sociological exploration of 21st-century culture. you won’t need a degree in sociology to understand this.

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“done” only has one meaning

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“done but” increases wip and turnaround time. profits go … well, you know.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

in my last book, i recommended hiring younger staff. in that book, i cautioned that you might have to teach very simple tasks like breathing and using the bathroom to your newbies.

more: keep clients from “balance due” shock | stop clients from performing “favors” | who needs fall tax planning? clients … and you | it’s okay to say no to clients (even the large ones) | control your time: avoid ambush meetings and calls | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

one reader posted that she didn’t believe it was the responsibility of an admin department to teach bathroom use. she was new to this hot new writing technique called sarcasm, but she did a great job making my point that you have to teach your staff a lot of basic things.

one of those teaching tasks is the meaning of “done.”

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surge pricing: what works for uber could work for cpa firms

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limited supply puts you in the driver’s seat.

by bill penczak

the serenity prayer states, “grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change, the courage to change the things i can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” keep that in mind for a moment.

more: four considerations for effective client culling | partner accountability: the only two things that really matter | chase birky: overcoming paralysis by analysis | o.d. lanier: stepping into advisory | are you too generous with your write-offs?
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when preparing tax returns and financial statement audits, one of the biggest challenges cpa firms face is either late or incomplete client information.

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