Rick Telberg, Author at CPA Trendlines

New Tax Law Roils Busy Season 2018

How savvy CPAs turn confusion into new billings.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines Research

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act won’t officially take effect until next year, but professionals are already reporting that it’s causing problems and depressing their forecasts for this year’s busy season results.

MORE on BUSY SEASON: Tax Pros Gain Slight Ground in E-Filings | Tax Pros Turning in Only 39% of E-Filings | Beware the EZ Way Out | IRS #FAILs at Online Services Spell Problems for Professionals | Can the IRS Improve Its Phone Service? | When Clients Face ‘Unreal’ IRS Audits | IRS Warns about Private Debt Collectors for Tax Season 2018

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Early soundings from the annual CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer show that 33 percent of practitioners are forecasting more trouble this year than last year – and they blame it on the new tax law.

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When Artificial Intelligence Gets Real

Survey: 78 percent “would work with an A.I. manager if it meant a more balanced workload.”

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

There’s a brave new world rising, a world juiced up on artificial intelligence.

MORE on A.I.: Lessons for Accountants from Self-Driving Cars | How Artificial Intelligence Will Drive the Next Wave of Merger Mania | How Artificial Intelligence Feeds Accounting Marketing

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What’s it going to be like? What will A.I. be capable of? Is it the dawn of a glorious new age of automation or a Cat-5 storm cloud on the horizon?

CPA Trendlines has some answers, and you might not like them.

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Beware the EZ Way Out

IRS mulls new 1023-EZ rules for 501(c)(3)’s.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

It’s safe to say that CPA firms tend to love IRS Form 1023-EZ, the simplified form for application for 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. Introduced in 2014, the form was EZ on the nascent, smallish not-for-profit and on the CPA trying to help them get started.

SPECIAL REPORT – Fixing the IRS: IRS #FAILs at Online Services Spell Problems for Professionals | Tax Accountants Fill the Breach of a Failing IRS | Beware the EZ Way Out | Can the IRS Improve Its Phone Service? | When Clients Face ‘Unreal’ IRS Audits | IRS Warns about Private Debt Collectors for Tax Season 2018 | Underfunded IRS Swamped with Problems | IRS in Retreat from Communities | Military Personnel Face New Battles at Home: The IRS | As New Economy Surges, IRS Falls Further Behind | Is the IRS Winning the Battle Against Identity Theft? | IRS Mulls Raising Fees to Cover Budget Shortfalls |

More at taxtrendlines.com

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This easier version of Form 1023 was a good and necessary idea. The IRS was way backed up on approvals of the original application. Approval was taking an average of 315 days. To the delight of do-gooders, wanna-be do-gooders, and outright frauds, virtually all 1023-EZs are approved in short order. Approvals were and still are passed down in just a couple of weeks.

Trouble is, a lot of those expedited approvals were for organizations that didn’t qualify for 501(c)(3) status.

BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

IRS #FAILs at Online Services Spell Problems for Professionals

Unintended consequences: Pushing low-end taxpayer-clients to tax professionals.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

Online accounts at the IRS are a good idea, but maybe not as good as the IRS would like to think – certainly not as good as a qualified tax preparer.

SPECIAL REPORT – Fixing the IRS: IRS #FAILs at Online Services Spell Problems for Professionals | Tax Accountants Fill the Breach of a Failing IRS | Beware the EZ Way Out | Can the IRS Improve Its Phone Service? | When Clients Face ‘Unreal’ IRS Audits | IRS Warns about Private Debt Collectors for Tax Season 2018 | Underfunded IRS Swamped with Problems | IRS in Retreat from Communities | Military Personnel Face New Battles at Home: The IRS | As New Economy Surges, IRS Falls Further Behind | Is the IRS Winning the Battle Against Identity Theft? | IRS Mulls Raising Fees to Cover Budget Shortfalls |

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The Taxpayer Advocacy Service has long called for online accounts. In 2016 they became a reality. Unfortunately, for many, it has been a painful reality.

The migration toward online assistance – ideally automated online assistance – is a product of the severe budget cuts the IRS has suffered. The Service can’t afford personnel to man the phones or keep Taxpayer Assistance Centers open.

But the budget cuts did not mandate a cut in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Taxpayers still have a legal right to quality service, confidentiality and a fair, just tax system.

BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

Can the IRS Improve Its Phone Service?

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

When the Internal Revenue Service launched its “Future State Initiative” in 2016, it promised a new and admirable level of service. From then on, taxpayers could expect the same level of service when dealing with the IRS as they get from a financial institution or a retailer. Or, so it seemed.

SPECIAL REPORT – Fixing the IRS: IRS #FAILs at Online Services Spell Problems for Professionals | Tax Accountants Fill the Breach of a Failing IRS | Beware the EZ Way Out | Can the IRS Improve Its Phone Service? | When Clients Face ‘Unreal’ IRS Audits | IRS Warns about Private Debt Collectors for Tax Season 2018 | Underfunded IRS Swamped with Problems | IRS in Retreat from Communities | Military Personnel Face New Battles at Home: The IRS | As New Economy Surges, IRS Falls Further Behind | Is the IRS Winning the Battle Against Identity Theft? | IRS Mulls Raising Fees to Cover Budget Shortfalls |

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Such brave words for a brave new world of tax collection! Alas, the promise of better service has not combined well with congressional cuts to the IRS budget. The brunt of those cuts is felt at the interface of frustrated taxpayers and stretched-thin IRS agents.

BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

When Clients Face ‘Unreal’ IRS Audits

IRS adopts confusing, misleading terminology. But it’s all very real.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

Tax professionals and accounting firms need to be aware that their clients may face two kinds of Internal Revenue audits: Real and Unreal.

Really.

SPECIAL REPORT – Fixing the IRS: IRS #FAILs at Online Services Spell Problems for Professionals | Tax Accountants Fill the Breach of a Failing IRS | Beware the EZ Way Out | Can the IRS Improve Its Phone Service? | When Clients Face ‘Unreal’ IRS Audits | IRS Warns about Private Debt Collectors for Tax Season 2018 | Underfunded IRS Swamped with Problems | IRS in Retreat from Communities | Military Personnel Face New Battles at Home: The IRS | As New Economy Surges, IRS Falls Further Behind | Is the IRS Winning the Battle Against Identity Theft? | IRS Mulls Raising Fees to Cover Budget Shortfalls |

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And it’s the “unreal” audits that are going to become more common. READ MORE →

BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

IRS Warns about Private Debt Collectors for Tax Season 2018

What accountants can do to help. And 20 other problems.

BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

Underfunded IRS Swamped with Problems

Not a good way to start Tax Season 2018.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

An angry and frustrated National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson has slammed Congress hard in the Taxpayer Advocate Service 2017 Annual Report to Congress. After a series of IRS budget cuts over the last several years, Olson says she sees the daily consequences of reduced funding and the choices made by the agency in the face of funding constraints.

SPECIAL REPORT – Fixing the IRS: IRS #FAILs at Online Services Spell Problems for Professionals | Tax Accountants Fill the Breach of a Failing IRS | Beware the EZ Way Out | Can the IRS Improve Its Phone Service? | When Clients Face ‘Unreal’ IRS Audits | IRS Warns about Private Debt Collectors for Tax Season 2018 | Underfunded IRS Swamped with Problems | IRS in Retreat from Communities | Military Personnel Face New Battles at Home: The IRS | As New Economy Surges, IRS Falls Further Behind | Is the IRS Winning the Battle Against Identity Theft? | IRS Mulls Raising Fees to Cover Budget Shortfalls |

More at taxtrendlines.com

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“Funding cuts have rendered the IRS unable to provide acceptable levels of taxpayer service, unable to upgrade its technology … and unable to maintain compliance programs that both promote and protect taxpayer rights,” Olson says in her preface to the annual report.

“‘Shortcuts’ have become the norm, and ‘shortcuts’ are incompatible with high-quality tax administration,” says Olson, describing her agency as swamped with problems and inadequacies.

Rick Telberg

MORE AT STORE.CPATRENDLINES.COM

Rick Telberg is a veteran analyst, advisor, commentator, editor, and publisher. He brings a unique background and perspective to research and advisory services for the professional services community.

Mr. Telberg may well be the accounting profession's most widely-known commentator through his long associations with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Accounting Today magazine, and today, CPA Trendlines.

As an expert in management, marketing, media, and e-commerce, Mr. Telberg has served as Senior Editorial Director of Pro2Net Corp., now www.smartpros.com, and as Director of Online Content at CPA2Biz, www.cpa.com.

Previously, Mr. Telberg served as the early Editor-in-Chief of Accounting Today, and as Vice President/Group Publisher at Thomson Financial (now SourceMedia), overseeing Practical Accountant, Accounting Technology, and what is now AccountingToday.com.

Mr. Telberg was presented with a special citation by the National Society of Accountants for service to the profession and has served on a variety of boards and steering committees, including BKR International and the IBM Small Business Advisory Council. He is a graduate of New York University.

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