tax season

tax preparers share advice for your clients

by

man and woman at table in client meeting

help them prepare for what’s to come.

join the busy season barometer. get the results.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

accountants sound worried. when the 2025 busy season barometer survey asked if anyone had advice on how small businesses should prepare for the next 12-18 months, almost half took the time to respond.

more barometer: staffing, tech, prices top tax pros’ concerns | tax pros gear up for a better busy season
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

here’s a list of some of the more meaningful responses. which would apply to your clients? which should you share with them?

___ figure out which labor-intensive functions they can automate asap. (andrew schwartz)

___ take advantage of near-term opportunities with post-tax cuts and jobs act legislation (as they become clearer) and provide services/planning for more probable changes in taxes/economy for 3-5 year, 5-10 year and 10 year+ timeframes. (anthony aleta) read more →

irs must speed up tax return processing

by

six steps to making it happen.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

it’s hard to comprehend the job that the internal revenue service performs. every year, more than a quarter billion tax returns flood into the agency’s complex of pipelines. some 10,400 employees get to work on “submission processing.”

more: 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 | tax pros gear up for a better busy season | irs processing up; payouts down | help tax clients help you | four challenges of managing new tax preparers | irs funding pays eye-popping 415x roi | tax season 2025 begins. ready or not.
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

in most cases, one of the pipelines leads back to the taxpayer with a timely refund or a notice of additional tax liability.

but in many cases, glitches in the system burden taxpayers with onerous and frustrating challenges.
read more →

first tax filing reports are in

by

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.

 

refunds are up; everything else is down.

by beth bellor

the first week of tax season is over! cue the applause!

some of you seem less than excited. we know it’s early. all too early.

more: 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 | tax pros gear up for a better busy season | irs processing up; payouts down | help tax clients help you | four challenges of managing new tax preparers
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

still, it’s time to begin our weekly tally of how things are going, starting with 13.2 million individual income tax returns received as of jan. 31, down 14 percent from the same period in 2024. the total returns processed was 11.7 million, down 15.8 percent.
read more →

cut down your tax work in progress

by

bonus: it’s cheaper than adding capacity.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

want to increase profitability and client retention? manage projects effectively.

if you don’t have these measures, get them, or turn in your ceo title. if, as a value pricer, you’ve sworn off practice metrics based on productivity, you’ll learn nothing from this article. you just don’t have the numbers. mark cuban is on hold waiting to yell at you.

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

 

there are only three ways to increase client happiness and thus increase retention:

  1. lower your prices
  2. decrease the turnaround time for client work
  3. increase quality

read more →

staffing, tech, prices top tax pros’ concerns

by

bar chart

 

small businesses are advised to prepare for change.

join the busy season barometer. get the results

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

if you think we’re in for a year of stability and calm, you haven’t been paying attention.

whether you think the nation and the world are moving in the right direction or the wrong, one thing we can all agree on is: we’re in for some change.join the survey

more: 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 | tax pros gear up for a better busy season | irs processing up; payouts down | help tax clients help you | art werner: beneficial ownership and control | four challenges of managing new tax preparers | irs funding pays eye-popping 415x roi | tax season 2025 begins. ready or not. | every tax reviewer should be able to answer these ten questions
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

if you need details on that, consider yourself lucky. return to your cave and go back to sleep.

on the other hand, if you’re an accountant, you need to stay awake, monitor the political-economic-financial situation and keep your clients advised. they need you now more than ever.
read more →

more than 1 million erc claims still not processed

by

line and bar chart

fraud didn’t help, but it’s not to blame for all of the delays.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

congress established the employee retention credit to help businesses survive the covid-19 pandemic. the program saved a lot of companies – as evidenced by today’s buoyant economy – but many employers filed fraudulent or otherwise ineligible claims.

how many? at one point, the irs said that tax professionals were estimating that 95 percent of claims that came to them were ineligible. the professionals blamed “promoters” who were aggressively pushing people to apply regardless of the rules.

more: 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 | tax pros gear up for a better busy season | irs processing up; payouts down | help tax clients help you | four challenges of managing new tax preparers | irs funding pays eye-popping 415x roi | tax season 2025 begins. ready or not. | every tax reviewer should be able to answer these ten questions | taxpayer advocate sees big improvements at irs
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

in fairness to the employers claiming the tax credit, the rules were very nuanced, complex and hard to understand. while some of the claims were intentionally fraudulent, many were innocently ignorant of their ineligibility.
read more →

tax pros see better year for those close to home

by

young man facing image of himself

nationally … they’re not so sure.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

cpas, enrolled agents and other tax practitioners are always on the front line of the economy. with offices in tens of thousands of locations across the country, they know who’s making money and who’s struggling.

according to early results from the 2025 busy season barometer, accountants have completely reversed their 2024 predictions for the economy.

more: 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 | tax pros gear up for a better busy season | irs processing up; payouts down | help tax clients help you | art werner: beneficial ownership and control | four challenges of managing new tax preparers | irs funding pays eye-popping 415x roi | tax season 2025 begins. ready or not. | every tax reviewer should be able to answer these ten questions | taxpayer advocate sees big improvements at irs | ask tax clients the right questions | major changes to circular 230: implications for tax professionals | cornerstone report
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

a mirror image

what a difference a year can make. look how the numbers have switched places, almost as if in a mirror image.
read more →

what if you could start over?

by

clean slate with three pieces of colored chalk

spend a few minutes imagining a clean slate.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

we all get caught up with what we do. sometimes so much that we lose sight of what we are doing and the purpose.

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

 

also, work happens. many of us start out with lofty plans that go astray as the practice develops. many things cause it – clients we get, availability or lack of availability of the right staff, how we choose to learn or not learn new things, and even where we locate.
read more →

advanced tax preparers need managing, too

by

four best practices.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

managing advanced-level preparers sounds easier than it is. these preparers will all have blind spots that appear at inconvenient times. some won’t be able to adapt to your internal procedures, because they worked at firms without well-defined procedures.

we had one person who insisted on printing out the prior year tax returns and workpapers before beginning a return. she said she just needed the paper in her hands. that didn’t work for us.

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

 

she asked to be paid on a salaried basis. when we agreed, she then demanded to be paid on an hourly basis. we agreed to that as well. then she wanted to go back to a salary. she believed that whatever we agreed to would be bad for her.
read more →

tax pros gear up for a better busy season

by

survey respondents say the new year means new plans.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

it’s shaping up to be a pretty good year, according to early results from the 2025 busy season barometer. half expect a year better than last year’s good year, and less than 10 percent think it will be worse.

more: irs funding pays eye-popping 415x roi | tax season 2025 begins. ready or not. | every tax reviewer should be able to answer these ten questions | art werner: corporate transparency act and fincen reporting | quick tax tip | taxpayer advocate sees big improvements at irs | ask tax clients the right questions | major changes to circular 230: implications for tax professionals | cornerstone report
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

why?

  • the market’s in a good place. plenty of clients out there.
  • so far (fingers crossed) no big changes to the tax code.
  • no pandemic quarantines (more fingers crossed).
  • the economy’s chugging right along (keep them crossed).

read more →

irs processing up; payouts down

by

data table

figures for 2024 topped those of 2023 until it came to refunds.

by beth bellor

as the 2025 busy season kicks off and we wait for the first individual income tax return reports to trickle in, let’s take a peek at how the last drips of 2024 compared to the dregs of 2023.

more: tax pros are making changes for a better busy season | irs funding pays eye-popping 415x roi | tax season 2025 begins. ready or not. | every tax reviewer should be able to answer these ten questions | art werner: corporate transparency act and fincen reporting | taxpayer advocate sees big improvements at irs | ask tax clients the right questions | major changes to circular 230: implications for tax professionals | cornerstone report | art werner: due diligence and irs enforcement | make ‘done but’ tax returns a thing of the past | six methods for getting paid faster this tax season | use humor to get tax documents in early
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

by the end of 2024, the internal revenue service had received 163.5 million returns, up 0.9 percent from the end of 2023. it had processed 163.5 million returns, up 0.3 percent, which included returns received in the prior or current year and processed in the calendar year.
read more →

help tax clients help you

by

eleven steps to better instructions.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

providing instructions of what a client needs to do must be clear enough so that the client doesn’t call you to find out what to do.

more: is your team ready for tax season? | six methods for getting paid faster this tax season
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

sometimes taking an extra minute to lay out what the client should do can eliminate that call or indecisive moment a client might feel.
read more →

four challenges of managing new tax preparers

by

… and three tips to make it easier.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

how do you train up newly hired tax preparers?

hint: don’t start with taxes.

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

 

having standardized processes is key. teaching processes is much easier than teaching tax return preparation. learning your processes teaches tax return preparation if your processes are well defined. much of tax preparation is data entry-oriented. then you teach the variations.
read more →