busy season management

is the irs about to get beefed up?

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today’s bonus question: lessons from tax season to apply to 2020?

trump proposes 5% boost to the irs budget, reversing years of cutbacks and declines.

busy season barometer
today’s bonus question: what are firms learning from tax season 2019, that they’ll apply in 2020?
join the survey. get the results.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

after many years of increasing austerity—and some would say crippling austerity—the irs may have bottomed out. despite broad cuts proposed in the overall 2020 federal budget, president trump has included an additional $362 million—a five percent increase—for the agency that gathers the funds that keep the united states in business.

more busy season: tax season funnies: april fool is when?  |  wanna change the tax world?   |  how the irs hides its legal decisions  |  tax season 2019 serves up a taste of the future  |  the biggest reason fraudsters run rings around the irs  |  the irs free-file flop  |  protect your clients’ assets  |  the demise of schedule a?  |  tammy’s tale of tax season tardiness  |  how effective project management makes your life easier  |  survey: busy season goes sour   |  when clients cash out: four smart financial moves

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if congress approves the budget as proposed (and that’s bound to be an exciting story), the irs can begin—just begin—to recover some of what has lost over the last decade or so.

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how the irs hides its legal decisions

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irs chief counsel office charged with intentionally evading its responsibilities to the public

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

like the universe itself, the internal revenue code keeps expanding toward infinity. in that its more than 2,600 pages are unclear in spots, there are an additional several thousand pages of rules and regulations. and just to clarify all that, there are tens of thousands of pages of court decisions.

more: tax season 2019 serves up a taste of the future  | the biggest reason fraudsters run rings around the irs  | the big free-file flop | the demise of schedule a? | refunds still up, but only by 0.7% | survey: busy season goes sour | tax refunds up 1.7% | lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019 | tax refund fury roils busy season | taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding

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

how many pages in all? no one knows. knowing, in fact, is impossible because in the time it takes to add them all up, their number increases. that’s why 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 believes it’s so critically important to a fair and well-functioning tax system that the irs office of chief counsel (occ) be held accountable for disclosing technical advice promptly. unfortunately, the occ seems to disagree. read more →

tax season 2019 serves up a taste of the future

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“thirty percent of tax services will be obsolete in three years.”

robert hockensmith talks about tax season 2019 on local tv news in phoenix.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

this year’s tax season is giving tax preparers a taste of the future—a future where tax returns are both simpler and more complex.

according to data streaming into the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer survey, tax practitioners are just beginning to get a handle on the radical changes wrought by the tax cuts and jobs act—not just the technical changes to the tax code but the resulting changes to the business of tax preparation.

more: the biggest reason fraudsters run rings around the irs  | the big free-file flop | the demise of schedule a? | refunds still up, but only by 0.7% | survey: busy season goes sour | tax refunds up 1.7% | lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019 | tax refund fury roils busy season | taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding

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

robert f. hockensmith, cpa, ea, in phoenix, ariz., and a website site notably named azmoneyguy.com, offers a variety of tax and non-tax services, sums it up thus: “thirty percent of tax preparation will be obsolete in three years. clients will want advice and tax resolution more than preparation for 50 percent of taxpayers. and only 50 percent of all tax returns will be prepared by professional tax preparers.”

read more →

the biggest reason fraudsters run rings around the irs

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irs chases the wrong returns, delaying refunds, wasting resources.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

let’s have a pity party! you’re invited.

let’s pity the internal revenue service for having to identify fraudulent tax returns and taxpayer identities.

more: the big free-file flop | the demise of schedule a? | refunds still up, but only by 0.7% | survey: busy season goes sour | tax refunds up 1.7% | lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019 | tax refund fury roils busy season | taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding

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

let’s pity the taxpayer whose tax return gets flagged as fraudulent—or her stolen identity that doesn’t.

and let’s pity the tax preparer stuck between the legitimate taxpayer and the fumbling, under-funded, well-intentioned bureaucracy of the irs. read more →

the irs free-file flop

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percentage of free file users by income demographics

fix it, or lose it.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

can you believe that 70 percent of all u.s. taxpayers could be using free file, yet only 2.5 percent actually are? did we mention “free?”

more busy season: protect your clients’ assets  |  the demise of schedule a?   |  tammy’s tale of tax season tardiness   |  how effective project management makes your life easier   |  survey: busy season goes sour   |  when clients cash out: four smart financial moves   |  lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019   |  the irs mess: taxpayer’s roadmap is a plumber’s nightmare  |  fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out   |  tax refund fury roils busy season

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

the reasons are mostly a mystery, but we found five major problems and seven ways to improve the program. if all else fails, even it’s backers agree: give up.

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the demise of schedule a?

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join the survey. get the results.

“if you charge by the form, schedule a’s are almost obsolete.”

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

with the countdown clock running down toward april 15, many tax professionals’ early-season optimism is turning into frustration and anger, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer.

the latest readings from the tracking poll show:

  • only half as many professionals now predict “significant increases” in the number of clients, and who now expect a “significant decrease” has almost doubled.
  • the number of practitioners forecasting revenue gains has been cut in half.
  • the number expecting better profits than last year has been cut by a third.

what’s happening?

read more →

how effective project management makes your life easier

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happier clients and happier staff are just the start.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

i have some excellent news. effective project management can make owning a firm fun and profitable again. if not fun, it will be at least more tolerable than a lifetime of root canals.

more: value pricers ignore half the pricing puzzle | beware the leeches and consultants | the value-pricing con job | the 21st-century cpa firm | ruthlessly efficient workflow management
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

i have worked two aprils from the ncaa final four basketball tournament. this past september 15th, i worked from the beach. no one at the office seemed to miss me.
read more →

lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019

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broken system. broken trust. broken tax season.

selected irs inventories and levels of service pre-shutdown and post-shutdown

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the government shutdown of 2018-19 was a traumatic experience that cpas and tax preparers will remember, with a shudder, for years to come.

more on busy season: the irs mess: taxpayer’s roadmap is a plumber’s nightmare |  fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out |  refunds rebound, up 1.3% from last year  | tax refund fury roils busy season |  irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt  |  the tax season funnies: worst video game ever  |  taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding  |  1.6 million tax clients gone missing?  |  busy season: fear, hope & frustration  |  alternative minimum tax: what’s it like today? |  clients’ top worry: going broke  |  the latest rules on charitable donations |

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

it was the longest shutdown in history, and it hit precisely at crunch time for the tax cuts and jobs act and just as tax season was getting underway.

look at some of the stats from the taxpayer advocate service for service just before and just after (not during) the shutdown: read more →

the irs mess: taxpayer’s roadmap is a plumber’s nightmare

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fixing the irs: add your comments with the busy season barometer here.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

every year, the taxpayer advocate service, an independent agency within the internal revenue service, issues a report to congress on the 20 most serious problems taxpayers face in trying to fulfill their patriotic duty to fund their nation.

 

today’s bonus question: fixing the irs

more on busy season: fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out |  refunds rebound, up 1.3% from last year  | tax refund fury roils busy season |  irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt  |  the tax season funnies: worst video game ever  |  taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding  |  1.6 million tax clients gone missing?  |  busy season: fear, hope & frustration  |  alternative minimum tax: what’s it like today? |  clients’ top worry: going broke  |  the latest rules on charitable donations |

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

taxpayer advocate nina e. olson, who just this year announced her retirement from the agency, notes that identifying the 20 problems that are most serious is not objectively possible or even desirable. sometimes, for example, the problems are the same as those of previous years, so the legislated mandate allows for subjective decisions about what to include. read more →

fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out

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what accountants are saying, in a word cloud

“all it takes is money.” sounds easy? except for the politics.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

wow! we asked for it, and we got it: an avalanche of advice on how to fix the irs.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 has always received smart, candid, and often outspoken responses to our busy season survey—  thousands of tax preparers from sea to shining sea telling us what’s happening in their offices.

click here to open survey

more on busy season:  refunds rebound, up 1.3% from last year  | tax refund fury roils busy season |  irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt  |  the tax season funnies: worst video game ever  |  taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding  |  1.6 million tax clients gone missing?  |  busy season: fear, hope & frustration  |  alternative minimum tax: what’s it like today? |  clients’ top worry: going broke  |  the latest rules on charitable donations  |  busy season: accountants worry for u.s. economy  |  tax shops bulk up for big busy season  |  busy season: the busiest ever? |  more real-time busy season coverage here

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

but this year, halfway through the season, we asked a loaded question: how would you fix the irs? the professionals in the trenches of tax prep know what the problems are and what to do about them. they also seemed a bit miffed (to put it mildly) that the solutions seem so obvious, yet the problems keep compounding. read more →