busy season management

tax pro e-filings lag by 512,000 returns

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data chart
2020 filing season statistics: cumulative 3/8/2019 vs. 3/6/2020

as do-it-yourselfers surge by more than a million.

busy season barometer:
how does this year’s busy season compare to last year’s?
better,  worse, or about the same?

by beth bellor

tax professionals are losing their share of the e-filing market this tax season, dropping to 48.5 percent of all returns e-filed, down slightly more than one percentage point from the same time last year.

more tax season 2020:  tax season turns ugly under coronavirus | tech tools for working through the coronavirus  |  what’s not to like about tax season?   |  why ‘tick and tie’ needs to die   |  lessons from the trenches of tax season   |  coronavirus rattles tax season   |  tax season funnies: the ‘service’ in irs   |  can your reviewers answer these 10 questions?   |  top tech choices for the virtual firm  |

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

the irs had received 68 million individual income tax returns as of march 6 – the latest data available – up 0.4 percent from the same period in 2019. the agency had processed 65 million returns, down 0.5 percent.
read more →

top 12 tax return errors

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error stampeddon’t ignore last year’s return.

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

following is a checklist with a listing of the most frequent tax preparation errors. use this as a guide of what the reviewers should look for.

more: why ‘tick and tie’ needs to die | use tax return prep for training and growth
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  1. number transposition and spelling errors. this includes income and deduction amounts and client social security numbers, addresses and zip codes. spelling errors should also be avoided – they indicate a lack of attention to what you are doing.

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tax season turns ugly under coronavirus

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卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer shows a marked decline in practitioners reporting a “better” year and increases in “worse.”

early optimism turns to fear and dismay as the covid-19 crisis spreads.

busy season barometer:
how does this year’s busy season compare to last year’s?
better,  worse, or about the same?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

whether the covid-19 panic is much ado about nothing or not enough being done about something, america’s tax and accounting practitioners are already seeing their early-season optimism shift into a mid-season nosedive.

more on tax season 2020: tech tools for working through the coronavirus  |  what’s not to like about tax season?   |  why ‘tick and tie’ needs to die   |  lessons from the trenches of tax season   |  coronavirus rattles tax season   |  tax season funnies: the ‘service’ in irs   |  can your reviewers answer these 10 questions?   |  top tech choices for the virtual firm  |

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

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2020 busy season barometer has been fielding responses since early january. and, for a while, things looked good. until the end of february, early respondents generally saw their season moving along swimmingly, the economy booming, clients doing well, families hunky-dory. this year was going to be so much better than last year.

that was then. this is now. read more →

what’s not to like about tax season?

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businesswoman holding green folderif you’re not happy, target why.

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 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: can your reviewers answer these 10 questions? | what makes a good tax season client? | 5 tax review keys | 5 steps for tax season success | 12 ways to have more fun this tax season
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

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).
read more →

why ‘tick and tie’ needs to die

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businessman shaking hands with grim reapera rundown of seven types of tax return reviews.

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

there are numerous ways to review tax returns. most reviewers have their own techniques, and some alter these based on

  • the type of or size of the return, or
  • who the preparer is or
  • who the partner in charge of that client is.

more: use tax return prep for training and growth
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

there is nothing wrong with this as long as the reviewer is experienced and really knows their stuff.
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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…
read more →

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 →

tax pros kick into high gear

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cumulative statistics comparing 2/22/2019 and 2/21/2020, irs

profession accelerates e-flings, but struggles for market share.

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 beth bellor

tax professionals are increasing their share of the e-filing market as we plow deeper into tax season. after starting at 34.6 percent and nudging up to 38.1, the latest figure is a healthier 44.3 percent of e-filings, although that’s about a point lower than the year-ago date.

more: data points down as tax season opens | more firms falling behind | does irs need a practitioner services division? | irs urged to form tax preparer strategy | accountants cautiously bullish on the economy | tax pros forecast a better 2020 | can the irs enforce the tax code? | tax pros upbeat on cusp of busy season | irs undertakes overhaul |  the fight for new tax clients | 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 essential touch for tax season | 5 steps for tax season success | help tax clients help you | 3 steps to tax season happiness |

see all tax season coverage here
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the irs, which delayed release of the figures, had received 49.9 million individual income tax returns as of the week ending feb. 21, the latest data available. that’s down from the same period last year, but only by 0.1 percent. meanwhile, it had processed 48.1 million returns, up 0.7 percent.
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.
read more →

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

read more →

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.

read more →

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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