tax practice

lessons from the trenches of tax season

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the points not taught in college.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer:
what’s different this year?
join the survey. get the results.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间’ annual busy season barometer is always a useful instrument for peeking into other professionals’ tax prep practices. among the data that can mined from survey results:

  • how other practitioners are doing this season
  • how this season compares with last year’s
  • what other practitioners are doing differently this year
  • what practitioners have learned since last year
  • how others feel business and the economy will go – for the nation, for their firms, for their families
  • how practitioners rate their own firms – and why

more: coronavirus rattles tax season | the irs needs more to get more | more firms falling behind | does irs need a practitioner services division? | irs urged to form tax preparer strategy | accountants cautiously bullish on the economy | survey results: tax pros forecast a better 2020 | can the irs enforce the tax code?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

what tax preparers have learned since last year is always especially interesting. the comments of professionals in the trenches are a list of all the lessons not taught in college. here are a few of them…
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coronavirus rattles tax season

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can you turn a crisis into an opportunity?

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer
benchmarks, trends & analysis
join the survey. get the results.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

coronavirus—covid-19—is coming. don’t imagine it won’t reach your community. it will. and even if you manage to keep it out of your office, and even if its lethality is less than the flu, just the threat of covid-19 is already impacting many tax and accounting firms.

how accountants are preparing for the worst:

  • do you have the portals, web-based apps, and cloud accounts necessary for staff to work from home? have you tested them? maybe you should have an everybody-works-from-home-day drill.
  • do you have policies and procedures in place for home-based work?
  • do individual staff have plans for caring for their family without disrupting work?
  • have you prepared clients for the possibility of electronic delivery of data and documentation? do they understand what to do?
  • are you ready to request filing extensions due to staff or client illness or local quarantine?
  • have you established sanitation procedures for your office?
  • do you have a vision of the worst-case scenario? this could include a) long-term quarantines of your office, other businesses, and all clients, b) widespread illness and absence of staff, c) general economic downturn, d) interruptions in cash flow, e) slower than usual responses from the irs, and f) well…what else can go wrong?

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer has always asked a variety of poignant questions about everything from the status of firms to the state of the economy. this is the first year, however, that it includes a question about disease. read more →

can your reviewers answer these 10 questions?

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businessman looking up answers in a bookwe’re nice and provide the answers just in case.

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer:
today’s bonus question:
are you ready for covid-19 conditions?
join the survey. get the results.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

the primary people who should review tax returns are trained tax department reviewers. however, often the bunching and compression of work shifts some of the review to higher level, non-tax personnel such as audit managers and partners who might not necessarily have the comprehensive training, background and experience to handle everything that might come up during the tax preparation process.

more: what makes a good tax season client? | do your clients feel important? | 5 small leaks that can sink a tax season | 5 tax review keys | 4 reasons to push ahead with tax question research | one can’t-skip touch for tax season | 5 steps for tax season success | help tax clients help you | 3 steps to tax season happiness
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

additionally, in many firms, almost everyone on the staff prepares some returns. that lack of dedicated preparers with the trained skills places an added burden on the tax reviewers, making it important for them to have the range of experience needed to perform the review.following are 10 questions reviewers should be able to answer to qualify for their role.
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the irs needs more to get more

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man with net chasing winged moneytighter enforcement leads to more service needs.

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer:
today’s bonus question:
are you ready for covid-19 conditions?
join the survey. get the results.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

between 2010 and 2019, the budget of the internal revenue service was cut by 20.4 percent, after adjusting for inflation. the situation has been severely aggravated by legislative changes that demand more work from the irs even as it has less to work with.

more: more firms falling behind | does irs need a practitioner services division? | irs urged to form tax preparer strategy | accountants cautiously bullish on the economy | survey results: tax pros forecast a better 2020 | can the irs enforce the tax code? | tax pros upbeat on cusp of busy season | irs undertakes overhaul
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

over the past decade, the irs has had to spend

  • more than $2.6 billion to implement the affordable care act
  • more than $500 million to implement the foreign account tax compliance act
  • more than $600 million to implement the tax cuts & jobs act

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call the irs for answers? good luck!

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irs levels of service for total enterprise, accounts management, consolidated acs, and installment agreement telephone lines for fiscal years 2015–2019

irs insists your call is important. but the numbers don’t add up.

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer:
new year, new strategies
join the survey. get the results.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

nothing kills a day like a phone call to the internal revenue service. a caller put on hold during the busy season literally has enough time to go out to lunch and come back before anyone answers.

more on tax season 2020: does irs need a practitioner services division? |  slow start for tax pro e-filing |  irs urged to form tax pro strategy | accountants cautiously bullish on economy | tax pros forecast better 2020 | can irs enforce the tax code? | tax pros upbeat on busy season | irs undertakes overhaul
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

unfortunately, given the inhuman complexity of the irs tax code, taxpayers often need to call for guidance or advice. last year, 99.3 million did so, and only 28.6 million of them actually hung on long enough to talk with someone. over the course of the year, the average time it took to get connected was 16.2 minutes.

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tax season is hacker season

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checklist: five things to do today to protect your firm and your clients.

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer:
new year, new strategies
join the survey. get the results.

by jess coburn
applied innovations

businesses of all sizes are targets from what has become the most vicious, innovative, and lucrative criminal endeavors we’ve ever witnessed. and tax practitioners are particularly easy targets.

more on busy season 2020: irs urged to form tax preparer strategy |  5 small leaks that can sink a tax season |  data points down as tax season opens |  the fight for new tax clients |  5 tax review keys |  tax pros forecast a better 2020 |  see all tax season 2020 coverage here

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

the financial services industry is perhaps the most targeted because of the value of data it possesses. and the most frequently targeted are cpas and those who prepare tax returns.

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accountants cautiously bullish on the economy

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the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer. join the survey. get the results
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer. join the survey. get the results

“local optimism” a bit better than last year.

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer
new year, new strategies.
join the survey. get the results.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

when cpas talk about the economy, people listen. they listen because accountants have their finger on the pulse of the economy. they look at real numbers all day. they look at where the numbers are coming from and where they’re probably going. it’s what they do.

more: pros improving performance | can the irs enforce the tax code? | tax pros upbeat on cusp of busy season | irs undertakes overhaul
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

for that reason, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间’ 2020 busy season barometer steps back from strictly tax issues to ask how things look economically. the answers are always interesting.

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use tax return prep for training and growth

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man and two women talking in officeplus: 10 reasons to improve your review process.

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer: new year, new plans?
join the survey. get the plans.

by ed mendlowitz
how to review tax returns: the field-tested update

tax season is a microcosm of everything done in an accounting practice.

more mendlowitz: 4 reasons to push ahead with tax question research | one can’t-skip touch for tax season | 5 steps for tax season success | help tax clients help you | 3 steps to tax season happiness | 12 ways to have more fun this tax season | bill with the tax return, get paid faster
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

one of the primary concerns of a business is having the proper processes and quality control procedures.

choosing how to properly use the reviewers’ time and interface them with the staff can contribute immensely to a smooth tax season.
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it’s official: irs sets monday, jan. 27, as start of filing season 2020

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april 15 is in 98 days. but who’s counting?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the internal revenue service confirmed that the nation’s tax season will start for individual tax return filers on monday, january 27, 2020, when the tax agency will begin accepting and processing 2019 tax year returns.

follow all our busy season coverage here

the deadline to file 2019 tax returns and pay any tax owed is wednesday, april 15, 2020. more than 150 million individual tax returns for the 2019 tax year are expected to be filed, with the vast majority of those coming before the traditional april tax deadline. read more →

12 ways to have more fun in tax season

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share the excitement that keeps you in this field.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

tax season presents exciting opportunities for accounting firms and their staff.

more: 5 ways to build teamwork | creating a cross-selling culture | 5 ways to build teamwork | when time-based pricing works | start marketing now for next season | the clients that got away  | 4 reasons not to let staff go after tax season | cross-selling beyond your comfort zone | 

bill with the tax return, get paid faster
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

every moment should be enjoyed and appreciated.

here’s how:

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