e-filing by tax pros gains more ground

nearly 100 million individual returns have been filed.

with the tax season winding down, the irs had received more than 99 million individual tax returns as of april 3, down 0.8 percent from 2014. more than 97.9 percent of those had been processed – 97 million, down 1.2 percent from last year.

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 read more →

survey results: latest comments on busy season 2015

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometerclick to join the survey; see the results
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer
click to join the survey; see the results

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer 2015:
join the survey. get the results

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

as results pour in from the final days of the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer 2015, it’s clear that practitioners’ experiences range widely, from outright euphoria to bleak despair.

see comprehensive coverage of busy season 2015

here are a few the latest comments, verbatim…

  • better than last year. volume is up significantly and good smoothness of preparation svc and knowledge of clients.
  • we added a small tax practice in an adjoining town
  • i didn’t have any clients with obamacare non-compliance

read more →

busy season 2015: comprehensive coverage

in case you missed it… in this directory, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 compiles complete coverage of the 2015 busy season. irs seeks more tools to fight refund fraud fy 2016 budget provisions would expand authority for regulation, correctable errors. workflow automation takes root in … continued

busy season 2015: top lessons learned so far

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometerclick to join the survey; see the results
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer
click to join the survey; see the results

doing the tax season math: regs + staff + clients + tech + self = busy x busy x busy

 by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the key lessons learned from the 11th annual 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer study are coming into clear focus.

more:
busy season 2015
comprehensive coverage

a. blair east
east

a.b. east, at manning elliott in vancouver, bc, canada, for example, took a lesson in smart management. he says he learned “the importance of having the right complement of experienced staff to delegate to so i can reduce my hours and deliver to clients on timely basis.” next year east will continue a very healthy policy: “i have been and will continue to mentor managers, seniors and juniors to advance their expertise on a quicker basis.”

most of the issues practitioners faced this year fit into seven main categories. what’s especially interesting is that the solutions vary from common sense to plain impossibility.

  1. affordable care act
  2. irs regs and congressional cruelty
  3. better staff, more staff
  4. clients
  5. management
  6. technology
  7. interrelated problems

here’s a summary of our findings: read more →

busy season 2015: fixing the tax system

tax frustrationhow tax professionals would remake the tax code. 

imagine there’s no deductions,
it’s easy if you try.
no 8965, no1095-a,
above us, only sky.
imagine all the cpas,
living for today

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

there’s nothing like another tax season to prod accountants into imagining about ways to reform the nation’s tax system. in the this year’s 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, some cpas have specific suggestions; others are calling on the profession to take a leadership role in the national conversation.

register your comments here: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2-minute survey: fix the tax system

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 is polling the profession with a two-minute survey asking for specific recommendations for changing the code, the regs, the instructions and the forms – whatever it takes to make life easier for cpas and the american taxpayer. (the call was not to reduce or increase taxes, just to simplify them.)

the earliest responses call for a diverse set of approaches: read more →

busy season 2015: new lessons in time management

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometerclick to join the survey; see the results
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer
click to join the survey; see the results

lesson learned: plan, prioritize, repeat.

next question: key financial metrics for 2015 results.
join the survey; get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

they don’t call it “busy season” for nothing. it’s a frenetic, hectic, even hellish effort to herd client cats toward an unforgiving deadline.

when we ask 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 members what lessons they’re learning this year and what they plan to do about it next year, we hear a lot about time management. based on the survey, time management issues can be organized into eight main categories:

  1. disorganized offices,

    lisa toback cpa
    toback
  2. timing,
  3. staffing,
  4. scheduling,
  5. procrastination,
  6. poor planning,
  7. the need for time off and
  8. the desire to retire.

the solutions cpas will be implementing next year range from minor tweaks to complete overhauls, or even surrendering to retirement and calling it victory. read more →

tax pros cling to 57% of e-filing market

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.

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

read more →

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

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

read more →

busy season 2015: when clients are the problem

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

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.:

read more →

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

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

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.

nancy casburn
casburn

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.

read more →

busy season 2015: headaches from obamacare

affordable care act‘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.

read more →

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

bullhornsome 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.

bea nahon
nahon

“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.”

read more →