tax season

tax refund totals up 10%

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tax pros hold 44 percent of the market, one-half percentage point less than a year ago.

by beth bellor

for the first time this busy season, the irs is reporting not just refund numbers and average amounts but also the total amounts refunded. it’s good news: up 10 percent for both total and direct deposit refunds.

more: tax refunds plummet, but no worries | tax refunds up 18% early on | first tax filing reports are in
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as of feb. 21, the most recent data available, the agency had received 42.7 million individual income tax returns, down 4.2 percent from the same period in 2024. it had processed 42.4 million returns, down 3.8 percent.
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how to assign projects to staff

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magnet drawing in three peoplesoftware helps, so here are three tips for choosing it.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

let’s talk about assigning staff to projects. understand that this discussion will mean nothing the first two weeks of april, when you may be assigning the family dog to some returns.

and that makes perfect sense in those circumstances. i’ve done worse. who knew that goldfish can’t type?

more by frank stitely
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there are two factors to consider in assigning a project to a staff member.

first, does your staff member have the technical capability to complete the project? some people are good at personal tax returns. others are good at business returns. a few rare, wonderful individuals are good at both.
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why itin applications get delayed

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bar chart

… and why they don’t have to.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

every year, more than a million taxpayers apply for an individual taxpayer identification number. these are people who, for various reasons, can’t get a social security number. these include

  • resident aliens with a “green card.”
  • foreign students who are allowed to earn a certain amount.
  • people in foreign countries who are required to pay u.s. taxes.
  • non-american spouses and other dependents of primary taxpayers who have ssns.

more: the ouches of the tax ‘practitioner’ scam | could the irs do better with the phones? | irs sluggish on identity theft | tax preparers share advice for your clients | irs must speed up tax return processing | first tax filing reports are in | cut down your tax work in progress | steve yoss: unlocking business insight with power bis | quick tax tip | more than 1 million erc claims still not processed | the top ten problems the irs still needs to fix | tax pros gear up for a better busy season | irs processing up; payouts down
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

delays and disaster

the itin application process is an invitation for fraud, so the irs is very careful in receiving and approving applications.
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what cpa firms could do better

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businessman looking thoughtful

survey respondents have specific suggestions.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

people at cpa firms generally think their practice is pretty effective at meeting its objectives with consistency over time.

but only 5 percent think their firm’s doing a great job. and about that many think their firm’s doing a somewhat lousy job.

more barometer: survey: which client industries will grow this year | tax preparers share advice for your clients | staffing, tech, prices top tax pros’ concerns | tax pros gear up for a better busy season | tax season 2025 begins. ready or not.
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the 2025 busy season barometer is finding that on a scale of 1 to 10, 45 percent of respondents would rate their firm at an 8 or better, and another 25 percent give their firm a so-so 7.
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tax refunds plummet, but no worries

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data table
* total tax returns processed includes returns received in the prior or current year and processed in 2025. # total refunds issued represents refunds for returns received and processed in 2025, which reflects current year returns only. however, the number of direct deposit refunds represents refunds for both current and prior year returns processed in 2025, which makes this figure larger than the “total number of refunds” listed for the current year.

 

tax pros handling 41% of e-filings.

by beth bellor

refunds, the one bright spot of the 2025 tax season so far, have dropped, and not just a little – 31 percent and more.

more: tax refunds up 18% early on | first tax filing reports are in
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

of course the irs has an explanation. it’s a plausible one and, as usual, tied to timing.

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avoid the top 12 tax return preparation errors

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red word "error"

the good news: they’re preventable.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

here are the top 12 tax return preparation errors:

  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.

more by ed mendlowitz
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  1. unreported 1099 income. clients frequently leave out 1099s, but the preparer should make sure all 1099 items from last year are accounted for. missing 1099s that were not final for last year should be accounted for.

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take the time to coach your tax staff

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two businessmen looking at documents

true tales about the busy season.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

your first role as ceo is chief strategist. that means putting the right people in the right roles with the right resources.

your second role is trainer and coach. this role is closely related to your role as chief strategist. you can’t put the right people in the right positions without the right people. this second role is about creating and keeping the right people.

more by frank stitely
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unfortunately, few of the people you hire will be the right people immediately. you have to grow them. they aren’t necessarily slackers or stupid. they have never worked in a forward-looking, well organized firm like yours. if you have made it this far through our discussions, you are well on your way to creating an extraordinary firm.
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could the irs do better with the phones?

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data chart

measurements need to be refined.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the irs has made big improvements in answering phones, but the service still leaves a lot to be desired … more than the irs measures or admits.

before we get into the gripe, let’s look at the improvements.

more: irs sluggish on identity theft | tax preparers share advice for your clients | check these 41 items on business tax returns | irs must speed up tax return processing | first tax filing reports are in | cut down your tax work in progress | steve yoss: unlocking business insight with power bis | quick tax tip | more than 1 million erc claims still not processed | art werner: the godfather and tax issues | quick tax tip | advanced tax preparers need managing, too | the top ten problems the irs still needs to fix | irs processing up; payouts down
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

over the past two years, the irs has hired more than 20,000 new taxpayer services employees. many of them are the customer service representatives (csrs) who answer the phones. and many csrs were moved from other duties to do phone duty on what’s called accounts management (am) lines.

and it worked … sort of.
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picking up the phone helps retain tax clients

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businessman talking on phone in the office

personal touches matter.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

clients are not numbers on a list that needs to be reduced. they are all individuals and consider themselves very important people and want professionals who treat them accordingly.

more by ed mendlowitz
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it is attitudinal and accountants must adopt that mindset and transmit that through to their culture. so you need to know when it’s essential to pick up the phone.
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tax refunds up 18% early on

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data chart

most other tallies are down by around 7 percent.

by beth bellor

once again, refunds are up and everything else is down in the world of individual income tax returns.

more: first tax filing reports are in
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

at the close of the second week of tax season, the irs had received 23.6 million returns, down 7.7 percent from the same week in 2024. it had processed 23.5 million returns, down 7.6 percent, which includes returns received in 2024 or 2025 and processed this year.
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you don’t have time for every client question

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businessman with eyes closed, head on hands

not this time of year.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

a well-known practice management expert, whom i greatly respect, advises cpas to never tell clients that you don’t have time for them. i disagree with the never part. you know how it starts. on march 25th, the call comes in.

“i know you’re busy but …”

more by frank stitely
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a request follows that could most certainly wait until after tax season. you are hip deep reviewing all the personal tax returns that got stuck in process while you climbed out of the march 15th corporate tax ditch.

“i need to know if i’m paying unemployment taxes to the right states. i think i should be paying taxes to the people’s republic of california, but i’m not. i’ve been paying unemployment taxes to uzbekistan instead.”
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