busy season management archives - page 14 of 30 - 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

tax pros cling to 57% of e-filing market

april 6, 2015

total individual returns received has topped 90 million.

the irs has received nearly 90.3 million individual tax returns as of march 27, down 0.6 percent from 2014. the processing rate remains nearly at pace, with nearly 88.3 million of returns processed – down 0.9 percent from last year but still running more than 97.8 percent complete.

tax pros gain e-filing market share

april 1, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

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 →

busy season 2015: vexed by regs, cpas dismayed at congress

april 1, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

get a read on the busy season. join the survey; get the results

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.”

here’s your new tax season marketing plan

april 1, 2015

by edward mendlowitz

never too early to start planning for next year.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

marketing takes many forms. further, many accountants are not trained in marketing. i also know that while most cpas want more business, they are too busy with what they have to be actively seeking new business. additionally, marketing can be external, internal or retentive.

more on tax season: when ‘quick and easy’ tax season research isn’t | 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

external is where new clients are solicited. that takes effort, ingenuity, time and maybe even some money.

internal is where you sell additional services to existing clients. it takes little effort or time and no money – but some ingenuity. read more →

busy season 2015: when clients are the problem

march 31, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

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.:

busy season 2015: short-term staffing problems need long-term solutions

march 30, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

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.

busy season 2015: headaches from obamacare

march 26, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

‘aca is pita bs for cpas.’ next year’s plan: ‘become a monk.’

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

as busy season 2015 grinds down, tax prep professionals are grappling with myriad and continuing issues with new rules, thin staffing and difficult clients, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 annual busy season barometer. but the new affordable care act seems to be causing the most widespread aches and pains among accountants.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 subscribers sound off about 2015 self-filers

march 23, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

some predict those clients will be coming back for cleanup.

tax professionals are sounding off in 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 comments on an apparent upsurge in do-it-yourself amateur self-filers while e-filing by professionals is lagging last year’s rates for four straights weeks so far.

“interesting that self-prepared is up and professionally prepared is down on a ytd basis,” says bea nahon, a bellevue, wash., cpa, and long-time advocate of women’s and small-firm interests.

“is that because business is shifting to the do-it-yourselfers?,” nahon says. “i suspect instead it’s due to the professionals bogged down in the mire of the tpr regulations. and the increasing trend of fraudulent self-prepared returns,”

“in fact,”nahon adds alarmingly, “some of those self-prepared returns are likely going to turn out to be our clients, which we don’t discover until we attempt to e-file.”

tax pros start to make up for lost ground in pace of 2015 e-filing

march 23, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

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.

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 →

closed for tax season? looks that way

march 16, 2015

by edward mendlowitz

automation can send the wrong message.

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: i have an automatic email response and some clients and contacts criticized me for it. i am overloaded during tax season and this takes some pressure off of me. here is the automatic email response i am sending out:

thank you for your e-mail. please accept my apology for this automated response. during tax season, most of my work days are scheduled with appointments and calls. i most always reply to emails and phone calls as soon as i can, usually the same day. replies are slower during the months of february, march and april. thank you for your patience.

answer: that’s terrible!

more practice doctor q&a: 12 must-knows for niche markets | when fees don’t keep up with cost increases | lowballing and why it (usually) doesn’t work | why the average fee doesn’t matter | how to apply value pricing to bundled services | 6 ways to take a client beyond tax prep | 10 do’s and don’ts for making small business clients happy | client’s difficult daughter balks at bill | 10 ways to get new 1040 clients | tax return reviewer ticking and tying | 23 reasons clients really need you for taxes | 5 time management tips for an overworked accountant | complaining client? no wonder! | pricing, billing, costing: don’t blame clients

you are running a business and tax season is just one part of it although concentrated into a highly intensive, pressure-filled period.

e-filing by tax pros slows for third straight week

march 16, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

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.

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 →

e-filing by tax pros slows

march 8, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

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

tax pro e-filing is holding steady

march 2, 2015

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

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.