busy season benchmarks in free fall

major declines in all kpis: clients, revenues, profits, revenue per client, and profit per client.

busy season barometer:
how accountants are battling the coronavirus recession
join the survey. get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

last year’s busy season was complicated, no doubt about it. the tax cuts and jobs act and the irs shut-down made life difficult for tax practitioners. but ultimately, they had a good year. a good 56 percent enjoyed an increase in clientele, and only 16 percent saw a decrease.

flash forward to the annus horribilis, aka 2020. according to this year’s 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, only 46 percent of accountants are gaining clients — a 10-point reversal from last year. and another 25 percent are losing clients – a 15-point swing from 2019.

more busy season 2020: fiinal rs efiling stats: the end of tax season? | say hello to the new 24-month busy season | 9 big ways the irs could help accountants | the mystery of 10 million missing tax returns | tax pro e-filings down 20 percent | irs web traffic doubles over year-ago | covid drowns irs in new filings percent | irs web traffic doubles over year-ago | covid drowns irs in new filings | 2020 tax season comes to a screeching halt | the tax season 2020 dumpster fire | tax pros fall behind 6.2% in returns filed
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it’s impressive that so many tax offices have actually expanded their clientele during such hard times. and it’s not surprising that so many have lost clients.

what happened?

read more →

say hello to the new 24-month busy season

deann auman hill and mike shost at aicpa engage: “the 24-month tax season?”

covid chaos turns busy season 2020 from bad to worse.

busy season barometer:
how accountants are battling the coronavirus recession
join the survey. get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

last year—the good old days!—busy season seemed to be about as bad as it could get. congress enacted the tax cuts and jobs act without explaining how it was to be enacted, and then changed some things. and then the irs shut down before the rules could be set and the new forms and schedules made available. and all of a sudden it was april 15.

more on the 2020 season: the mystery of 10 million missing tax returns | tax pro e-filings down 20 percent | irs web traffic doubles over year-ago | covid drowns irs in new filings | 2020 tax season comes to a screeching halt | the tax season 2020 dumpster fire | tax pros fall behind 6.2% in returns filed
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tax practitioners had little good to say about 2019. according to last year’s 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, 46 percent said 2019 was worse than the previous year. only 13 percent thought it was “much better.”

that was then.

this is now. and, now is worse.

read more →

9 big ways the irs could help accountants

number 9 created by gaps between many small green plastic 9'sdeadlines could change. so could options.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the taxpayer advocacy service’s mission is to make life easier for taxpayers, but when it succeeds, it alleviates the burden on tax practitioners as well.

more: flexibility in a time of pandemic | what are irs faqs worth? | the top six irs #fails this tax season (so far)
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with that mission in mind, the tas has set itself a serious series of nine objectives for fiscal year 2021. each one touches on the services of cpas and tax practitioners, so it’s worthwhile to follow how successful the tas is.
read more →

the covid outlook: a long, slow climb back to recovery

why right networks’ acquisition of rootworks may be just what the doctor ordered

^ click to play

with rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the accounting world shifted a little with the acquisition by right networks, a cloud-hosting vendor, of rootworks, a technology platform provider to cpa firms.

though conceived before the pandemic, the deal was closed as the first wave of coronavirus was crashing against the shores of the u.s. and it may be a sign of the times under pandemic conditions, as accountants — and, indeed, business in general — race for new technology solutions and business models.

see: right networks acquires rootworks

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in this exclusive interview with 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间, right networks ceo joel hughes and rootworks founder darren root, explain the reasons for the deal, and their forecast for the future under covid. warning: their forecast for the future under covid is not pretty.

but the combination of the two companies may augur hold clues to the future of the profession.

transcript

here’s the full transcript, only lightly edited:

read more →

flexibility in a time of pandemic

tax advocate asks irs to cut taxpayers a little slack.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the novel coronavirus has made a mess of many things, including deadlines. the u.s. tax court closed on march 19, 2020, leaving taxpayers confused about what has to be filed by when, and often tax practitioners aren’t real sure either.

more: what are irs faqs worth? | the top six irs #fails this tax season (so far)
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here is a summary of key developments that tax clients may need to be aware of:
read more →

what are irs faqs worth?

not enough, says national tax advocate.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the covid-19 crisis hit the internal revenue service pretty hard.

  • employees were sent home to quarantine.
  • entire operations were shut down.
  • most taxpayer-to-agent communication was impossible.
  • taxpayer assistance centers were shuttered.

more: the top six irs #fails this tax season (so far)
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complicating matters, congress passed a number of initiatives that the irs had to execute even as it was stripped down to the skeleton crew:
read more →

accounting firms take billions in ppp payouts

cpa firms grab the biggest slice of ppp loan payouts, accounting for 56% of the tax and accounting industry’s imperiled jobs. (卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research)

thousands of tax prep shops, bookkeeping companies, cpa firms, and payroll services take emergency loans, promising to save over 200,000 jobs.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

some 6,610 tax, accounting, payroll, and bookkeeping firms have so far received millions of dollars in small business administration paycheck protection program loans, potentially saving over 210,613 jobs, according to new data obtained 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 full list of tax, bookkeeping, payroll and cpa firms is available to pro members here.

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the leading borrowers have all been cpa firms – each collecting $5 million to $10 million against a promise to save 10,298 jobs, more than half of the entire industry headcount threatened by the pandemic-fueled economic crash.

read more →

the top six irs #fails this tax season (so far)

erin collins, irs taxpayer advocate
collins

sending out notices with expired deadlines? check.

busy season barometer:
how accountants are battling the coronavirus recession
join the survey. get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

it’s been a hard year for everyone, from pauper to president to tax practitioners. the latter have been triple-whammied by the need to keep clients and employees healthy, the shifting rules and deadlines made to accommodate the lockdown and the staggering, stumbling service of the internal revenue … well, service.

more on tax season 2020: tax pros handling bigger share of e-filings | how covid has pulverized irs operations | the mystery of 10 million missing tax returns | covid cuts accounting profits | why busy season may never be the same again | getting a handle on covid |

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let us pause to pity poor erin m. collins, who late last year landed a great new job: national tax advocate. she replaces nina olson, who held that position from 2001 to 2019, bowing out in the nick of time, leaving behind an impressive record of improvements in the american system of tax collection.
read more →

how covid has pulverized irs operations

delays, postponements, system failures, shutdowns, and mounting backlogs.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

taxpayers who filed a 2019 paper return and are entitled to refunds may be in for a long wait, according to the first report to congress from the new irs watchdog.

more on the 2020 season: the mystery of 10 million missing tax returns | tax pro e-filings down 20 percent | irs web traffic doubles over year-ago | covid drowns irs in new filings | 2020 tax season comes to a screeching halt | the tax season 2020 dumpster fire | tax pros fall behind 6.2% in returns filed
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the irs was forced to suspend the processing of paper tax returns, and as of may 16, it estimated it had a backlog of 4.7 million paper returns, says national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins, who succeeded long-time predecessor nina olsen just as the pandemic was ramping up.

although the irs is reopening some of its core operations, it is not clear when it can open and process all the returns sitting in mail facilities, the taxpayer advocate service reports.

read more →

covid cuts accounting profits

two views on tax season from texas: john lister and jonathan kaplow

a shift in the wrong direction.

busy season barometer:
how accountants are battling the coronavirus recession
join the survey. get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

every business in the country, if not the world, is feeling the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. outside of the tech sector, the impact has been largely negative. every business is suffering. so, relatively speaking, the tax and accounting sector may be getting off easy.

more trends in surveys & research: seven ways covid has changed busy seasongetting a handle on covid | covid crushes cpa business outlook |  is the worst over? 63% of small business say so | beat the covid crisis with these 20 steps for your firm and your clients | clients, revenues, profits – trending down, down, down | covid crushes rosey forecasts | the seven factors keeping accounting firms afloat amid covid-19 | feeling the pain? the biggest job losses by client sector | tax season pivots to covid rescue season | planning for the coronavirus recession | how accountants are coping with covid-19 |

more coronavirus coverage here

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according to the latest data from the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2020 busy season barometer, about 39 percent of firms are still expecting to see an increase in business, but overall optimism seems to be dipping even as the economy begins to reboot.

read more →

why busy season may never be the same again

rachel wehr: “a shoulder to cry on.”

how many of these new pandemic-related management strategies will become everyday habits?

busy season barometer:
how accountants are battling the coronavirus recession
join the survey. get the answers.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

cpas and tax practitioners tend to be a pretty sharp bunch. by their nature, they are good at analyzing a situation and figuring out what to do. and not just with numbers.

case in point: the covid pandemic. every firm in the world, from the big four in the big cities to the sole practitioners in their garrets and basements, has had to assess the situation and figure out what to do.

more trends in surveys & research: getting a handle on covid | covid crushes cpa business outlook |  is the worst over? 63% of small business say so | beat the covid crisis with these 20 steps for your firm and your clients | clients, revenues, profits – trending down, down, down | covid crushes rosey forecasts | the seven factors keeping accounting firms afloat amid covid-19 | feeling the pain? the biggest job losses by client sector | tax season pivots to covid rescue season | planning for the coronavirus recession | how accountants are coping with covid-19 |

more coronavirus coverage here

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the reports from practitioners across the country are coming in through the busy season barometer, which is serving as a central clearinghouse for sharing experiences and advice. the barometer would normally be wrapped up by now, but since busy season isn’t, neither is the barometer.

here are the top seven most common points: read more →