tax practice

art werner: shift gears post-tax season | quick tax tip

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start with proactive planning instead of reactive reporting.

sponsored by “turbocharge your profits: how to thrive in the new economy,” by frank stitely, cpa, cva  – see today’s special offer

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quick tax tip
with art werner
cpe today

as tax season winds down and the dust settles, many cpas are eager for a breather. but in the latest quick tax tip with art werner podcast, the seasoned tax educator offers a powerful—and timely—reminder: now is not the time to coast. instead, it’s the perfect opportunity to pivot from tax historian to tax strategist.

click here for more art werner

drawing on decades of experience and his trademark candor, werner explains how the very tax returns just filed can be the launchpad for a more impactful advisory relationship with clients. “what i would look at,” he begins, “is the tax return you just prepared—and use that as a script.” read more →

why chaos at the irs spells new work for tax professionals

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the three key irs tools every pro must learn today.

by eric l. green, llm

between all of the back-and-forth between doge and the irs, not to mention travel and credit line reductions, it raises questions about what exactly the fate of the irs will be.

more: the irs tidal wave is here | s corp clients beware | four ways to handle federal tax liens | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | tax chat: eric green reveals the tax rep guide to tax season | what i wish clients knew about tax liens | tax: explaining the bad news about canceled debt to clients | offers in compromise aren’t for everyone
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in fact, the latest announcement is to cut the irs by 50 percent by the end of 2025. so, if you are wondering just what the heck the game plan is, you are not alone. after speaking with close colleagues inside the irs, i can say it is basically chaos at the moment.

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remember these nine tax season resources

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happy family of four outdoors in winter clothing on snow

don’t take them for granted.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

we have many resources and need to recognize that. and we need to treat each with its own importance. even if you did everything yourself, you’d still need to rely on your tax software company, fedex and the postal service, stationery supplier, computer consultant, the internet and email, cell phone provider and copier/scanner machine. and that’s just a few of the resources we rely on. managing your resources well creates an aura of security and consistency to your practice.

more by ed mendlowitz
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but there more. and they are often overlooked. or taken for granted. here are some more resources that need to be managed:
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check these 41 items on business tax returns

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woman's hand using a pencil on notepad

a handy reviewer’s checklist.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

client ________________________ year _____

prepared by ___________________ date _____

more by ed mendlowitz
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notes: 1) the term “owners” will be used to refer to stockholders, partners or members, as the case may be. 2) even though “trial balance” is used in this checklist, you can use the company’s financial statements if those were what were used for the preparation of the tax return, or computer-generated statements.

following is a suggested checklist of things for the reviewer to consider:
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four challenges of managing new tax preparers

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… 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
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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.
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tax season 2025 begins. ready or not.

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bar chart
ready or not? more than four in ten accountants are expecting a better tax season this year than last year, with only one in six dreading worse. join the survey. get the results.

most pros will hit the ground running.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

join the survey. get the results.

ready or not, here it comes: the marathon of the tax season. the w-2s are in the mail, the k-1s shouldn’t be far behind, and the 1099s are being filed.

more: 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
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so far, most of america’s cpas and tax preparers are ready for the tax season and reasonably optimistic about this year’s revenues.

according to early results to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, 44 percent of respondents are better prepared than they were last year, and almost as many are in about the same position as last year. only 14 percent say they’re less ready than last year, with a mere 3 percent much less ready. fifteen percent are “much better” prepared.

but that was before a trump-ordered government-wide hiring freeze and new threats of over $20 billion in budget cuts.

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every tax reviewer should be able to answer these ten questions

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man wearing glasses holds papers in right hand and looks at laptop screen against a backdrop of windows
yes, we included the answers … just in case.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

the primary people who should review tax returns are trained tax department reviewers. however, often the bunching and compression of work shifts some of the review to higher level, non-tax personnel such as audit managers and partners who might not necessarily have the comprehensive training, background and experience to handle everything that might come up during the tax preparation process.

more: 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 | quick tax tip | 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 | art werner: busy season predictions | four steps could close the tax gap | art werner: how to turn tax prep into tax advisory | art werner: navigating business structure decisions amid tax law changes | tax season memo from staff to managing partner | is the irs adequately tracking corporate tax evasion? | irs still unsure how to measure audit rate
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additionally, in many firms, almost everyone on the staff prepares some returns. that lack of dedicated preparers with the trained skills places an added burden on the tax reviewers, making it important for them to have the range of experience needed to perform the review.

following are 10 questions reviewers should be able to answer to qualify for their role.

read more →

make ‘done but’ tax returns a thing of the past

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six people around work table

eliminate bottlenecks by asking better questions.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

a project hung up in process is one where there is a disagreement between people involved in a project as to the status. for example, a client thinks he has answered your tax return questions, while you believe he has not. another example is when a tax return preparer believes a return is ready for review while the reviewer does not believe it’s ready.

more: use humor to get tax documents in early
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the result of a hung-up project is a dead project – one that’s not moving to completion.

if a tax return gets hung up, eventually your client calls you, and you get to waste time determining why the project stopped moving. this increases work in progress (wip), which increases turnaround time.
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use humor to get tax documents in early

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my secret? humor, sarcasm and a bit of shame.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

there are easy ways to get clients to do what we need them to do. in our office, we call the process “training” clients. one of our biggest headaches is the late delivery of tax materials. so, we train our clients to bring their tax documents in early.

more: end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | get clients to understand firm processes … or say goodbye | train now before it costs you down the road | keep clients from “balance due” shock | stop clients from performing “favors” | who needs fall tax planning? clients … and you | it’s ok to say no to clients (even the large ones) | control your time: avoid ambush meetings and calls | you train your clients, whether you mean to or not | don’t let clients dictate tax workflow | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity | easy ways to avoid ‘done but’ tax returns
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we accomplish this through a series of e-blasts explaining our deadlines. the e-blasts start in december, and we call them “countdown to tax season.” they cover much more than our deadlines for clients to provide business and personal income tax returns documents.

we use the blasts to train clients in other areas – such as minimizing the use of staples when they give us their documents. we also discourage people from putting their documents in three-ring binders. as i’m certain you already know, staples and binders drive your admin staff crazy when they’re trying to scan documents.
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art werner: post-mortem estate planning | quick tax tip

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it’s never too late.
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quick tax tip
with art werner

so, ladies and gentlemen, what does post-mortem mean? you know, it means after death.

more art werner quick tax tips here

so, how can you do an estate plan after a person dies?

read more →

three ways to thrive with limited capacity

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smiling man working at laptop in office with glass walls

turn the staffing shortage into a new opportunity.

by frank stiteley
the relentless cpa

charles dickens had to be writing about the accounting profession when he wrote, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

clients are plentiful. i met a new client coming out of the restroom at our office complex. we get four to five inquiries a day – out of tax season. during tax season, we turned down four out of five prospective clients.

more on staffing: tax and accounting jobs and salaries show strength | olympics of outsourcing and offshoring for accountants | new study: strong and steady growth for accountant jobs and salaries | can’t recruit? retain! | is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | whole person retention: when it’s not just the money | more big firms shut their doors to new college grads | seven enticements to keep talent on board | employee retention is easier than attraction | let interns fix the staffing shortage? | disruptors: talent crisis? what talent crisis? | firms culling clients as staffing woes persist
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staff are not plentiful – at least not good ones. i’m getting two or three resumes a day, but they’re the warm body sort most of us learned the hard way not to hire during the pandemic. you’ve seen these resumes too. they are people with six employers in eight years. you are certain to be number seven in nine years. they claim eight years of experience, but you can see from their job history that it’s really two years of experience repeated four times. and – they want $100k for those two years of real experience.

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the top tip for reviewing tax returns

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what would you say?

by ed mendlowitz
202 questions and answers: managing an accounting practice

question: i know you have a lot of advice on how to review tax returns. what’s your single best tip?

more: you have to start somewhere | two options for collecting past due fees | when board service gets tricky | eleven ways new staffers can help bring in business | busy season is over, so it’s time for some resolutions | want to merge? six steps to take | how to start providing family office services | every accounting firm needs quality control | no one listens to you? change how you talk | 47 types of business valuation to provide | thirteen things to consider before you sell your practice | uncooperative partner might not be the problem
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response: i had never thought about this until this question was asked.
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the irs tidal wave is here

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man silhouetted against open doorway in tidal wave

what you need to know now.

by eric green

for over a year now, we’ve been saying that the irs was properly funded and warned it would unleash a tidal wave of work. we also warned you that we would be dealing with all sorts of untrained employees. the bad news, at least for clients, is that day has come.

more: s corp clients beware | four ways to handle federal tax liens | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | tax chat: eric green reveals the tax rep guide to tax season | what i wish clients knew about tax liens | tax: explaining the bad news about canceled debt to clients | offers in compromise aren’t for everyone
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the good news for tax pros is that with this wave of enforcement spells opportunities for representation work. what you do still have to navigate is the impact of untrained employees, who are creating their own set of challenges.
read more →