POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

CPA Profession Facing More Battles Across the Country

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Disputes revolve around required hours, definitions and “substantial equivalency.”

By Steven Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals: Thriving in Disruption

Of all the states whose legislature has run amok this past year, the Florida legislature passed House Bill 813 – Certified Public Accountants – by both the Florida House and Senate. This bill creates a new “retired status” license category for CPAs. The legislation will now be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for consideration for being signed into law.

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According to the Florida Institute of CPAs CEO, the thinking behind this is to “… uphold retired CPAs’ profound sense of pride and accomplishment and preserve their professional identity.” However, they cannot reflect to the public that they have an active license because many believe the public thinks that if you have “CPA” after your name, you have an active license. If an individual wants to return to public practice, they can complete 80 hours of CPE every two years as part of renewing their license.

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Auditing Standards ‘Yellow Book’ Updated

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Words "time for an update" on clock face

The changes are more than just technical.

By CPA Trendlines Research

America has a wealth of governments. They’re all over the place. Municipal governments. County governments. Parishes, boroughs, villages, hamlets. Special purpose local governments. School districts, fire districts, tax districts. Independent authorities, tribal councils and councils of governments. State governments, territorial governments and, of course, the big one in Washington, District of Columbia, with its thousands of branches, arms and agencies.

Love them or hate them, there they are. Tens of thousands of governments. And they all have one thing in common: they need to be audited.

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Or, to put it another way, they need auditors.

Being governments, their accounting and auditing standards are different from those of nongovernmental entities.
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FTC Nails TurboTax for ‘Free Filing’ Scam

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shocked couple looking at laptop while sitting on couch

What does ‘free’ mean? It shouldn’t be up for debate.

By CPA Trendlines Research

American taxpayers are all victims of a tax scam.

Yes, all of them.

MORE: If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were Useful | Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns | The Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers | Must the IRS Be a Dark Hole? | IRS Plays Whac-A-Mole with the Phones | VCs Plunk $60 Million into AI-Powered ‘Autonomous’ Tax Prep
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And the New York Times points an accusatory finger straight at TurboTax.

A Tax Season Villain

In a 15-minute video article by John Harris and Binyamin Appelbaum, the Times says there’s a tax villain, and it’s neither the tax rate nor the Internal Revenue Service.
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If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were Useful

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Businessman sitting on cloud

The National Taxpayer Advocate has a long wish list.

By CPA Trendlines Research

If you are a CPA, tax preparer or Registered Agent – a tax pro, in other words – there is a slim possibility that you are registered with the Internal Revenue Service’s Tax Pro  program.

MORE: Can’t IRS Online Accounts Be More Useful? | ID Theft a Problem for IRS Even When It Doesn’t Exist | The Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers | Taxpayer Assistance Centers: A Good Idea That Should Be Better | IRS Still Falling Short on Service | Must the IRS Be a Dark Hole? | 10 Tips to the IRS for Beefing Up Staff | Eight Ways the IRS Can Speed Up Processing Tax Returns | IRS Plays Whac-A-Mole with the Phones | Ten IRS Problems That Need Solutions | Treasury IG Sees Progress at IRS
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But even if you are registered, the odds are vanishingly small that you actually use it.

Why? Because it’s really of limited use.
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Can’t IRS Online Accounts Be More Useful?

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angry man wearing tie and glasses, punching fist through laptop screen

Taxpayers and pros alike are frustrated, exasperated, disappointed and angry.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Ever-improving internet commerce is one of the great developments of this first quarter of a century. The process and potential of dealing with products and services, including government services, has come a long way from the toddling brouhaha of the World Wide Web of the 1990s.

MORE: ID Theft a Problem for IRS Even When It Doesn’t Exist | The Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers | Taxpayer Assistance Centers: A Good Idea That Should Be Better | IRS Still Falling Short on Service | Must the IRS Be a Dark Hole? | 10 Tips to the IRS for Beefing Up Staff | Eight Ways the IRS Can Speed Up Processing Tax Returns | IRS Plays Whac-A-Mole with the Phones | Ten IRS Problems That Need Solutions | Treasury IG Sees Progress at IRS
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The Internal Revenue Service still dreams of joining these early years of the 21st century. To get started, the Service has gone so far as to launch an Individual Online Account program. IOLAs allow taxpayers to

  • view basic information,
  • make payments,
  • enter into payment plans and
  • view and download certain notices.

All of which is very nice but soooo 1998.
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ID Theft a Problem for IRS Even When It Doesn’t Exist

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faceless hooded male person, low lighting and words "IDENTITY THEFT" repeated throughout

Either way it consumes scarce resources.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Tax return identity theft’s a bummer.

How big a bummer?

So big that even when there’s no theft, it’s a bummer.

MORE: The Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers | Taxpayer Assistance Centers: A Good Idea That Should Be Better | IRS Still Falling Short on Service | Must the IRS Be a Dark Hole? | 10 Tips to the IRS for Beefing Up Staff | Eight Ways the IRS Can Speed Up Processing Tax Returns | IRS Plays Whac-A-Mole with the Phones | Ten IRS Problems That Need Solutions | Treasury IG Sees Progress at IRS | VCs Plunk $60 Million into AI-Powered ‘Autonomous’ Tax Prep
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It’s a bummer when it happens, not only because it happened but because the Internal Revenue Service can take up to 19 months to recognize the problem, do something about it and send the hapless taxpayer a refund not for this year’s return, not for last year’s return, but for the year before last.

And it’s a bummer when there’s no theft involved because when the IRS’s rickety technology flags a return as a possible ID theft, the return gets delayed for months and months of manual processing.
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The Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers

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man in business suit and black ski mask flashing OK sign while sitting at desk with phone to ear

Six solutions offered.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Are you a sleazy, incompetent, unethical tax preparer?

If so, no problem! Not for you, anyway. Your clients might suffer, but as far as the Internal Revenue Service is concerned, you’re as qualified to prepare other people’s taxes as any CPA or Enrolled Agent.

MORE: Taxpayer Assistance Centers: A Good Idea That Should Be Better | IRS Still Falling Short on Service | Must the IRS Be a Dark Hole? | 10 Tips to the IRS for Beefing Up Staff | Eight Ways the IRS Can Speed Up Processing Tax Returns | IRS Plays Whac-A-Mole with the Phones | Ten IRS Problems That Need Solutions | Tax Pros Are Expanding and Earning More
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And that’s a problem.

A Wild West Environment

Tax preparers good and bad prepare over half of the country’s individual income tax returns. They play an essential role in tax administration, and they are a frontline defense in preventing fraud and error.
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Taxpayer Assistance Centers: A Good Idea That Should Be Better

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woman addressing couple sitting at table with her

A modest proposal.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Taxpayer Assistance Centers are a great service for the tens of millions of taxpayers who can’t afford the professional help of a tax preparer. They offer a chance for a taxpayer to sit down with an actual human being who is prepared to help.

MORE: IRS Still Falling Short on Service | Must the IRS Be a Dark Hole? | IRS Plays Whac-A-Mole with the Phones | VCs Plunk $60 Million into AI-Powered ‘Autonomous’ Tax Prep | How Tax Practitioners Became Cybersecurity Risks
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Among the services TAC staff can help with are:

  • Account inquiries (help with letters, notices, levies on wages, etc.)
  • Adjustments and changes to tax account information
  • Basic tax law assistance
  • Acceptance of cash payments

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