tax

judge reviewers by how tax preparers improve

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businesspeople discussing chartsalso: eight kinds of staff you don’t want.

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

reviewers have to face accountability. they are judged several ways, but i feel the best way is not with a metric but by how the quality of the preparers improve during tax season and how the workload is managed.

more: tax reviewers can advance, with a push | what makes an excellent tax return reviewer | 10 errors that ‘smart’ scanners make | tax: the procedural checklists your firm needs | the best way to review a tax return | why you can’t skip checklists
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yes, the reviewers are responsible for the preparers’ quality. the reviewers are expected to find errors and show the preparer what they are, how to fix it and to not have them reoccur. and this should be done quickly by not letting prepared returns hang around unchecked for a while. the quicker the turnaround time, the easier and better the training and better all-around job by everyone.
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can’t irs tax pro accounts do more?

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profile of man shouting tax and other, starred-out wordsof course it can. here are five recommendations.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

in 2021, the irs rolled out its tax pro account program, a relatively quick response to the complications brought down by covid-19, not to mention the years of dwindling service brought down by congressional budget cuts.

more: hello? irs? anybody home? | taxpayer assistance centers need upgrade | tax pros offer advice for small businesses | has early tax season optimism peaked? | why the irs is still doing data entry by hand | accountants’ top problems for tax season 2023
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the purpose of tax pro accounts is to allow practitioners to perform basic services online for their clients.

unfortunately, the services enabled by the program were and still are rather limited. many of the services that individual taxpayers themselves can access online are not available to their tax accountants.
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hello? irs? anybody home?

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pulling people off the phones: not helpful.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the latest results from the 2023 cpatrendlines busy season barometer showed a significant shift in practitioners’ main concern this year. it used to be “late or unprepared clients.”

more: taxpayer assistance centers need upgrade | on business outlook, cpas are confident … and concerned | at the irs, short on staff means short on service | tax pros offer advice for small businesses | busy season barometer finds many cpas in transition | more cpas see worsening economy | has early tax season optimism peaked? | marchternity: just say ‘no’
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now “irs operations” has surged to first place, cited by 53 percent of respondents.

ouch, right? the agency charged with collecting taxes is the biggest problem for those who file tax returns for a living.
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pros handle 45% of income tax returns

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data tablerefunds down by double digits.

by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

tax season 2023 has been consistent. refunds are down, and so are self-prepared filings and irs.gov visits. by every other marker, though, business is as usual or better.

more: on business outlook, cpas are confident … and concerned | at the irs, short on staff means short on service | more cpas see worsening economy | marchternity: the solution is community |
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

as of feb. 24, the latest data available, the irs had received 46 million individual income tax returns, up 1.3 percent from the same period in 2022. it had processed 45.7 million returns, up 4.3 percent.

we always like to see processing go quickly, and the agency is speeding through returns right now at a clip of 99.4 percent.

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taxpayer assistance centers need upgrade

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portrait of an angry man yelling on the phoneeven if they get an appointment, taxpayers are limited to one issue.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

taxpayer assistance centers were a great idea that have somehow managed to stumble into quasi-dysfunctionality.

more: on business outlook, cpas are confident … and concerned | at the irs, short on staff means short on service | more cpas see worsening economy | marchternity: the solution is community | why we all hate the tax code | tax season 2023: better or worse?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

ideally, taxpayers should be able to show up at a tac with their papers and count on good advice and assistance. they should even be able to have their paper returns scanned and filed electronically.

but no. inevitably, this, too, got screwed up.
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on business outlook, cpas are confident … and concerned

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accountants forecast a dreary, difficult 12-18 months ahead. with the exception of the promise held in leveling up tech stacks and seizing on automation.

what’s your opinion? how’s your practice doing? what are your concerns? 
take the five-minute busy season survey and contribute to the professional discussion.

fewer accountants = larger client lists.

your best advice for small businesses? taylor: “understand your financials, know your kpis, and you’ll inevitably thrive in any recession. do not hire employees unless you have a clear plan for how hiring will benefit you.” stocker: “monitor results. hang in there! this too shall pass.”

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

cpas and tax practitioners tend to know what’s happening in business. more than any other professionals, they have their fingers on the pulse of companies large and small. they understand numbers, they listen to their clients and they have the wherewithal to see where micro- and macroeconomies are headed.

more: at the irs, short on staff means short on service | tax pros offer advice for small businesses | has early tax season optimism peaked? | why the irs is still doing data entry by hand | how bullish are you this tax season? | tax season 2023: better or worse?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

when the 20223 cpatrendlines busy season barometer survey asks cpas and tax practitioners about the business and economic outlook from their view in the trenches of american business, the responses show a curious contradiction.

generally speaking, the earliest respondents are confident at the micro level – their own firms and families – but less so for their clients. they are notably concerned about the macro level – the national economy and the outlook for small businesses in general.

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at the irs, short on staff means short on service

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guess who suffers?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

it probably won’t surprise the average tax practitioner to learn that in the american customer satisfaction index of federal agencies, the internal revenue service ranks dead last.

more: tax pros offer advice for small businesses | busy season barometer finds many cpas in transition | marchternity: just say ‘no’ | news on irs is maybe sort of a little bit good
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it accomplished the same dubious rank in forrest research’s u.s. customer experience index of 221 companies and federal agencies.

two sad things about this:
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what makes an excellent tax return reviewer

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bonuses: a 10-question test (and answer key), plus 18 other issues you might want to test.

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

firms have to decide who will do the tax return review, and how qualifed they are for this. ideally, trained tax department personnel are the primary reviewers. however, the bunching and compression of work often shifts some of the review to higher level, non-tax personnel such as audit managers and partners who might not have the comprehensive training, background, knowledge and experience to handle everything that comes up during the tax preparation process.

more: ‘quick and dirty’ tax review | when returns should be submitted for review | tax follow-up worksheets can mean more revenue | stop tax return review shortcuts | routine is key to reviewing tax returns | seven types of tax return reviews
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additionally, in many firms, almost everyone on the staff will prepare some returns to ease the almost insurmountable burden on the tax department. that lack of trained preparers, though, places an added burden on the reviewers, making it important for them to be more aware and alert when they perform the review.
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busy season barometer finds many cpas in transition

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join the survey. get the results.

dropping services … and clients. help wanted.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the 2023 cpatrendlines busy season barometer generally looks for the status of firms as they dig into this year’s tax filings. practitioners tell us how things are going, how well they’re doing, what their main concerns are and what they see happening in local and national economies.

more: more cpas see worsening economy | has early tax season optimism peaked? | marchternity: just say ‘no’ | marchternity: the solution is community | why the irs is still doing data entry by hand | news on irs is maybe sort of a little bit good | why we all hate the tax code | how bullish are you this tax season? | accountants’ top problems for tax season 2023 | tax season 2023: better or worse?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

at the end of the survey, we ask what else we should know about their firms. this year, we’re receiving hints of firms in transition – slowing down, branching out, shifting gears, moving on, revamping business models and generally looking for a better business life.
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more cpas see worsening economy

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… especially for small businesses.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

accountants have a unique view of economies – local, national and micro. more than anyone else, they scrutinize numbers, the real numbers, the numbers that real companies and real families report. they see what’s really happening in black and white … and red.

more: has early tax season optimism peaked? | marchternity: just say ‘no’ | marchternity: the solution is community | why the irs is still doing data entry by hand | news on irs is maybe sort of a little bit good | why we all hate the tax code
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

and what they’re seeing now, in terms of economics, according to latest results from the 2023 cpatrendlines busy season barometer, doesn’t look good.

the economic future didn’t look good when the first responses came in, and now it’s looking a little worse.
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irs processing returns as fast as it gets them

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data tablerefund numbers up 20+ percent, but average amounts still down.

by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

has the internal revenue service been bingeing nascar videos? the agency put the pedal to the metal in processing individual income tax returns, with an incredible current rate of 99.8 percent.

more: only 39% of tax returns filed by pros | tax season opens with refunds up 85%
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

as of feb. 17, the latest data available, the irs had received 36.9 million individual income tax returns, up 2.6 percent from the same period in 2022, and processed 36.8 million of them, up 9.9 percent.
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