some individuals choosing e-filing but paper return checks.
the irs has received nearly 82.3 million individual tax returns as of march 20, down 0.6 percent from 2014. it has processed more than 80.4 million of them, down 0.9 percent from last year and a rate of over 97.7 percent complete for this year. read more →
next question: what’s the best way to fix the tax system? register your comments here.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
the u.s. tax system has become so complex and dysfunctional that even professional tax practitioners are bitterly frustrated and angry – outrage that’s been boiling over in the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer.
this year accountants are talking about staff problems, client problems, overload problems and affordable care act problems. but the anger with new forms and regulations isn’t stopping there.
“all reason has gone out the door,” says a cpa in montrose, colo. “i have been preparing tax returns for over 35 years. there has never been a tax season like this one – and there will never be another one like it.”
top nine client management solutions.
next question: lessons learned.
join the survey; get the results
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 annual busy season barometer is uncovering some frank and candid talk about clients. yes, we love them. couldn’t live without them. most of the time. but, well, not always.
it’s not that they’re bad people. but let’s face it, they aren’t always sweating tax prep much in advance of april 1, they have no idea what new regulations are in effect this year and their advisories from their cpa are filed under “migraines that can wait.” plus, they truly believe their cpa is exclusively dedicated to their company and doesn’t really have much else to do but wait around for their phone call.
“no matter how proactive you try to be at scheduling and planning ahead, clients still delay providing information for their taxes,” bryan lantz says. “seems the irs, congress and the media are out to make our jobs even more compressed and stressful.” his solution: “keep communicating with clients to ensure that we can do the best we can at equalizing workflow during busy season.”
from their remarks, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 draws at least nine lessons in smart client management.:
not enough trained staff, not enough seasonal staff, not enough staff.
next question: the smartest moves this busy season? join the survey; get the results.
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 annual busy season barometer is eliciting a panoply of lessons learned and plans for a smoother season next year. a lot of professionals’ comments this year are nothing short of outright complaint. and not without reason. it’s been a rough year. if the snow didn’t get you, forms 3115, 8962, 8965 or 1095a did. plus all things irs got more complicated, clients got more desperate and, apparently, tensions rose as cpas and staff stretched themselves to the limits of professional endurance.
one of the main lessons learned is the need for enough staff — enough staff hired early enough and trained well enough. nancy casburn at casburn cpa in lee’s summit, mo., sums up the importance of the softest of software: “staffing is the most important reason for failing or succeeding at tax season.”
if we can draw any conclusion from all the staff-related lessons reported in this year’s busy season barometer, it is that the profession needs more staff, better trained staff and an availability of seasonal staff. given the increasing complexity of tax returns, the solution of this problem — more training, more accounting majors — needs to arrive quickly and be broadly based.
irs processing nearly 98 percent of returns received.
tax professionals e-filed more than 38 million returns through march 13, lagging 3.4 percent from the same time in 2014. yet, that’s an improvement from last week’s 4 percent deficit.
related: have fun this tax season! | tax preparation fees: the national averages [infographic] | irs form 3115: a sin and a travesty | how to get paid faster this tax season | accountants see solid business gains in 2015 | as market share slips away, accountants look beyond the 1040 | irs emerges as major tax season competitor | tax pros losing market share to self-filers
last week, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 reported that the industry’s 33.4 million e-filings accounted for 53.6 percent of all the e-filed returns, compared with 56 percent in 2014. read more →
four reasons not to let one question stop a tax return in its tracks.
by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide
i keep a few of the one-volume tax guides in my office so i could look up a quick answer when i need to. recently a golf buddy emailed me a question that i thought i could answer quickly. he wanted to know that if he was in the “zero” percent capital gains tax bracket, did that apply to an unlimited amount of capital gains? sounds like a simple question.
more on tax season: 5 personal touches for tax season | consistency simplifies tax season | 11 clear client instructions to make your tax season easier | 3 ways to build a tax season team | have fun this tax season | how to get paid faster this tax season
well i looked it up online and then in three one-volume tax guides. only one source had thorough coverage of the issue. i ended up spending an hour on this “simple” question including my emailed response. nothing is simple anymore. read more →
after a fast start at the beginning of the season, the pace of e-filing by tax professionals continues to brake, compared with the same time last year. but the number of do-it-yourselfers is growing briskly.
related: have fun this tax season! | tax preparation fees: the national averages [infographic] | irs form 3115: a sin and a travesty | how to get paid faster this tax season | accountants see solid business gains in 2015 | as market share slips away, accountants look beyond the 1040 | irs emerges as major tax season competitor | tax pros losing market share to self-filers
tax professionals e-filed over 33.4 million returns through march 6, 2015, down 4 percent from the over 34.8 million returns e-filed by the same time in 2014. read more →
one is a can’t-skip.
by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide
occasionally accountants lose touch with their clients, especially during tax season. part of this is because of the crush of work, which is compressed into a pretty short period. we sometimes lose sight that we are working on something the clients consider one of the most important things in their lives at that moment.
prosecutions down 16 percent in 2014.
budget cuts are clearly undermining the nation’s ability to collect tax revenue and enforce tax laws, widening already gaping budget holes, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 data show.
for instance, tax prosecutions, which peaked during the early clinton administration, bottomed during the bush administration. read more →
refunds also are down. tax professionals e-filed over 28.7 million returns through feb. 27, 2015, down 4.4 percent from the nearly 30 million-plus returns e-filed by the same time in 2014. related: have fun this tax season! | tax preparation … continued
six ways to eliminate stress and potential mistakes. by ed mendlowitz tax season opportunity guide urgency creates stress and pressure and leads to mistakes and improper perceptions of the quality of the work. planning and execution reduce urgency. one way … continued
creating awesome value to become the go-to business strategist.
by hitendra patil
pransform inc.
as part of my role in calling on cpa firms, i meet with as many as a hundred in a month. but three of them absolutely blew me away. let me tell you why.
they all share one common factor in their thinking, which is creating awesome value for their clients. all of them provide the same standard services to their clients that an accounting and tax firm would. what happens beyond those standard services is what separates them from the rest of the world. and they use a simple trick to create awesome value. read more →
the irs has processed more than 97 percent of returns received.
tax professionals e-filed over 23.7 million returns through feb. 20, 2015, down 3.9 percent from the nearly 24.7 million returns e-filed by the same time in 2014.
related: have fun this tax season! | tax preparation fees: the national averages [infographic] | irs form 3115: a sin and a travesty | how to get paid faster this tax season | accountants see solid business gains in 2015 | as market share slips away, accountants look beyond the 1040 | irs emerges as major tax season competitor | tax pros losing market share to self-filers