tax season

tax preparers share advice for your clients

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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
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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 →

staffing, tech, prices top tax pros’ concerns

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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
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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 →

tax pros see better year for those close to home

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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 →

five ways to fill the staffing gap

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bar chart

it takes more than moolah.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the 2025 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy barometer is finding that the talent shortage is one of the accounting industry’s primary concerns, and the wolters kluwer future ready accountant report confirms that the shortage of accounting professionals is expected to be a top issue over the next five years.

more: show us the money! accountants are making more | twelve years and out: seasoned accountants join the exodus | how accounting firms are handling the staff shortage
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the shortage is global, the wolters kluwer report says. around the world, 35 to 40 percent of firms identify recruitment and retention as their biggest challenge.
read more →

irs processing up; payouts down

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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 →

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

 

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.

read more →

irs still unsure how to measure audit rate

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data table

differing definitions are only part of the problem.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the inflation reduction act endowed the irs with almost $80 billion to improve customer service and beef up enforcement. congress later reduced the amount to $57.8 billion, with $24 billion earmarked for enforcement.

in no time at all, there was misinformation bouncing around social media and conservative podcasts, claiming that the ira would result in more audits of middle-class taxpayers.

more: art werner: estate planning strategies | quick tax tip | art werner: post-mortem estate planning | quick tax tip | pause to praise the tax pro volunteers | irs vs. fraudsters | imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance
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the enforcement resources had no such designation. to allay fears, in 2022 the secretary of the treasury directed the irs commissioner not to use any of the additional resources to increase the audit rate of small businesses or households earning below $400,000.
read more →

irs vs. fraudsters

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the endless war is not going well.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the fraudsters of the world continue to see the u.s. treasury as a bountiful chest of riches just waiting to be plundered.

it doesn’t take much. a taxpayer’s name, a social security number, a bank account number, maybe an email address, a phone number and a little luck.

more: imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | tax pros file 33% of early returns | can’t irs online accounts be more useful?
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the irs is used to this. it knows what to do about it.

it just doesn’t do it very well.
read more →

imagine! the national tax advocate does

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(you may say she’s a dreamer, but she’s not the only one.)

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

one word keeps popping up in national tax advocate erin m. collins’s introduction to her annual objectives report to congress.

the word is “imagine,” and collins’s dream depicts an irs that is a only bit more feasible than john lennon’s dream of a world with no countries or religion.

more: art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

but you can still sing along …

“imagine a taxpayer or a representative receiving a text message

… or email referring the taxpayer to their online account,
read more →

is the irs mismeasuring phone service?

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unhappy man waiting on phone in office

bad metrics are hiding problems.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

if there’s one nice thing about phoning the irs, it’s the opportunity to take a nap.

taxpayer naps were a little shorter this year, especially for those calling 35 of the 102 toll-free lines, known as enterprise lines, that taxpayers can call for assistance. those 35 lines are for accounts management (am) issues.

more: is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | audit firms nervous about new tech | what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | business model transformation: do it or die | misperceptions, corrections, accountancy and lemonade
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

thanks to a mandate from the secretary of the treasury, the irs hired 7,000 customer service representatives to handle the am lines.
read more →