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

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 →

down by 400,000 returns – the end of tax prep?

red alert: tax professional e-filings drop by 0.5% year-to-year, first year-to-year decline ever.

final irs stats for busy season 2020 shows professionals filed 0.5% fewer returns than last year and lost market share to diy’ers.

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

by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

in what may be an alarming turning point for the profession, tax practitioners finished an already chaotic and bruising tax season 2020 after preparing a total of 73.8 million e-filed returns – a decline of 400,00, or 0.5 percent, from tax season 2019 – the first such reversal on record. ever.

jon baron

more on tax season 2020: say hello to the new 24-month busy season | when covid ‘got real’ | tax pros hold efiling market share as tax seasons winds down | the top six irs #fails this tax season (so far) | 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 | covid tests accountants’ entrepreneurial talents | pro tax prep stalls to a crawl amid covid-extended season | clients, revenues, profits – trending down, down, down |

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

“if you are in public accounting and relying on personal return revenue, the results this year are troubling as it is the first time that professionally prepared returns actually fell from the prior year,” says jon baron, the longtime ceo of thomson reuters tax & accounting, and now a venture capitalist with more than a couple startups in stealth mode.

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

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

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 →

start marketing now for next season

no, it’s not too early to begin planning.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

marketing takes many forms. further, many accountants are not trained in marketing. i also know that while most cpas want more business, they are too busy with what they have to be actively seeking new business. additionally, marketing can be external, internal or retentive.

more: 4 reasons not to let staff go after tax season | nine keys to success and growth | what kind of accountant are you? | covid tests accountants’ entrepreneurial talents | have you gotten where you wanted yet?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

external is where new clients are solicited. that takes effort, ingenuity, time and maybe even some money.
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)
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

here is a summary of key developments that tax clients may need to be aware of:
read more →

4 reasons not to let staff go after tax season

midsection of businessman moving out with cardboard box from officewhat will you need to pick up when they’re gone?

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: i am planning on letting go of some staff after tax season and will hire replacements at a higher level. any suggestions?

more: good preparer procedures will reduce review time | 10 things not to say during tax season | top 12 tax return errors | why ‘tick and tie’ needs to die | use tax return prep for training and growth
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

answer: 1) your implication is that you will hire replacements at a higher level.
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)
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

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 →

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 |

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

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

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 →