tax season

how to be the chief communicator

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man on the phone in officeif you follow this plan, you’ll have the time and reap the benefits.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

your role as chief communicator is closely related to your traffic cop role. in the traffic cop role, we covered prodding clients to keep projects moving along, but there is more to client communications than just moving projects along to completion.

more: the tax practice traffic cop | the land mines in tax returns | how to teach reviewing and time management | how to coach your staff | give your people the resources they need | 4 steps to take before next tax season | how to create good managers | 4 tips for managing advanced preparers | 3 tips for handling rookie tax preparers | how to hire and manage great admin staff | the right way to assign staff projects
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

how many times per day do clients contact you to ask such pressing questions as, “are my dog’s vet bills deductible medical expenses?” the answer is yes, if your vet holds dual dvm and md degrees and your dog is classified as a dependent on your tax return. see irs code section 999, subsection c, paragraph 666.
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the tax practice traffic cop

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illustration of traffic lightauto-nagging isn’t always enough.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

one of your roles as ceo is chief traffic cop. you keep the flow of returns moving along the information superhighway that is your workflow system. you manage the managers. you remove process bottlenecks. you soothe irritable clients.

more: the land mines in tax returns | how to teach reviewing and time management | 4 steps to take before next tax season | some uncommon advice on hiring full-time staff | what goes into a client project? | 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 live in 15-minute increments during tax season. there are four things i do over and over and over again:
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the land mines in tax returns

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woman reading paper document at office desk in front of computerdata entry errors = public beheadings.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

your next role as ceo is reviewer. there are two types of review: primary and secondary.

more: how to teach reviewing and time management | how to coach your staff | how to create good managers | how to hire and manage great admin staff | managing people: the heart of effective project management | tammy’s tale of tax season tardiness | beware the leeches and consultants | the value-pricing con job | the 21st-century cpa firm | ruthlessly efficient workflow management | the annual tax meeting is dead. clients killed it.
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

depending on the size of your firm, you may only have primary reviews. if your firm consists of you and a preparer, you won’t have a second level of review. i don’t consider the self-review as a review step. i consider it part of preparation.
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how to teach reviewing and time management

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businessman sitting in office and reading documentsavoid “what’s the status of” hell.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

let’s discuss two training issues in detail: teaching time management and teaching review skills.

more: how to coach your staff | give your people the resources they need | 4 tips for managing advanced preparers | the right way to assign staff projects | workflow for dummies
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the biggest training gift that you can give your staff is time management training. you may want to offer formal training, but i have never found one that was really specific to cpa firms and the daily challenges we face.
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should the irs go down in history?

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stock image of businessman pushing a giant stack of documents isolated on white background3 reasons an agency historian would be a good idea.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

karl marx may have been wrong about workers rising up against their capitalist overlords, but he was right in observing that much of history can be explained by economics.

more: 5 easy ways that congress could fix tax collection | 4 ways to fix irs collections | taxpayers deserve better receipts | what’s the real impact of irs audits?
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if history and economics go hand in hand, it makes sense  that the internal revenue service, an entity through which trillions of dollars pass in a constant flow, should have an in-house historian. its policies, programs, decisions, managers, records, cases, controversies and artifacts are an important part of american and world history – but only if they survive for historical analysis.
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how to coach your staff

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confident businessman analyzing chart and explaining it to co-workeralso, don’t let your managers hoard work.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

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

more: give your people the resources they need | 4 steps to take before next tax season | 3 tips for handling rookie tax preparers | some uncommon advice on hiring full-time staff | what goes into a client project? | value pricers ignore half the pricing puzzle | cpas can’t help you
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

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.
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5 easy ways that congress could fix tax collection

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industrial metal number 5yeah, we said “easy” and “congress” in the same breath. we’re optimists.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

everyone talks about fixing the irs. but where do you start?

more: 4 ways to fix irs collections | 3 ways to improve irs levies | how the irs abuses ‘math errors’
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we’ve found five slam-dunks that congress should be able to agree on.

 

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give your people the resources they need

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woman scanning a documentseriously consider your rate of return.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

we have talked about putting the right people in the right places. let’s discuss giving them the right resources.

more: 4 steps to take before next tax season | how to create good managers | how to hire and manage great admin staff | managing people: the heart of effective project management
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

little angers me as much as getting cheap when it comes to giving staff what they need. here’s an example from my wife’s career as a federal government contractor.
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4 ways to fix irs collections

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home foreclosure? put on the brakes.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

tax assessment and collection – this is the juncture where taxpayers really get to know their favorite federal agency … or, if not favorite, the only one that touches virtually every working american.

more: 3 ways to improve irs levies | how the irs abuses ‘math errors’
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

it can be a heavy touch to a tender area, the one in the vicinity of the wallet. so it’s a touch that can always use improvement.

fortunately for taxpayers, the tax advocacy service  suggests 16 ways congress could make the assessment and collection touch a touch softer.
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3 ways to improve irs levies

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hand drawing a rainbow-colored 3because common sense isn’t always common.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

there’s a rumor that the pillared citadel of the internal revenue service on constitution avenue has a secret room where no one ever goes. it’s the largest room in the building, yet empty save for distant echoes in the dark. the room has a name. it’s called the room for improvement.

more: how the irs abuses ‘math errors’ | taxpayers deserve better receipts | troubles with irs private debt collection | what difference does one word make? | what’s the real impact of irs audits? | data divers profile taxpayer filing styles
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

ok, that’s an exaggeration. the irs is constantly improving, at least when congress gives it the funds to do so.

but that doesn’t mean the room isn’t there.
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how to create good managers

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young woman lying on the desk at office and holding magic wand in her handyour deadline is april 5, not april 15. here’s why.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

good managers are a special breed. they possess that most valuable, difficult and rare of skills – the ability to review others’ work.

more: 4 tips for managing advanced preparers | 3 tips for handling rookie tax preparers | some uncommon advice on hiring full-time staff | what goes into a client project? | value pricers ignore half the pricing puzzle | cpas can’t help you | the agile accountant
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

review skills require deep technical knowledge combined with an extraordinary attention to detail. and that’s not all. they need dazzling communication skills to be able to deliver criticism gently.
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how the irs abuses ‘math errors’

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businesswoman with headache at laptopoic fees, partial payments are counterproductive.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

improve the internal revenue service?

yes, it is still possible.

one general area that could use some big-time tweaking is that of tax assessment and collection procedures. the national tax advocate has found no fewer than 16 ways to make the irs more fair and more efficient.

which ones would you recommend? read more →