Bradley Burnett’s New Tax Season Webinars
Now Available in Self Study CPE Format
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Today's Features
5 Small Leaks That Can Sink a Tax Season
Shut them off before they cause great damage.
By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide
Some people are micromanagers and anal with details. Others are big-picture managers, letting details take care of themselves. Neither is completely effective and both disciplines need to be balanced.
MORE: 5 Tax Review Keys | 4 Reasons to Push Ahead with Tax Question Research | Help Tax Clients Help You | Bill with the Tax Return, Get Paid Faster
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
There is a time for details and a time for big-picture thinking. When setting up procedures and processes it is essential that all details be considered and planned for. Once the process is set up, there should be brief but continuous monitoring. And then the big-picture thinking should take over – that is where you will make your money.
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Accountants Cautiously Bullish on the Economy
“Local optimism” a bit better than last year.
The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer
New year, new strategies.
Join the survey. Get the results.
By CPA Trendlines Research
When CPAs talk about the economy, people listen. They listen because accountants have their finger on the pulse of the economy. They look at real numbers all day. They look at where the numbers are coming from and where they’re probably going. It’s what they do.
MORE: Pros Improving Performance | Can the IRS Enforce the Tax Code? | Tax Pros Upbeat on Cusp of Busy Season | IRS Undertakes Overhaul
For that reason, CPA Trendlines’ 2020 Busy Season Barometer steps back from strictly tax issues to ask how things look economically. The answers are always interesting.
SURVEY RESULTS: Tax Pros Forecast a Better 2020
Difficult clients? Show them the door.
The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer: New year, new plans?
Join the survey. Get the plans.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Last year was rough on tax preparers – the overhaul of the tax code on top of the government shutdown, the forms and schedules unavailable, the obsolete software.
MORE: Tax Pros Upbeat on Cusp of Busy Season
But as they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And according to the early results of the CPA Trendlines 2020 Busy Barometer, those who survived last year have learned some lessons and are making changes.
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Why Go PRO? Ask Mike
"We have decided to be more intentional in running our firm as a business and I’m interested in gaining the perspective of other firms and experts in our field."
Thanks,
Mike
Why Recurring Fees Could Kill Your Practice
Fight the complacency trap.
By Martin Bissett
Business Development On a Budget
As you know, the traditional accounting firm model is firmly based on the reality of recurring fees that come in from clients every year. We can rely on these and forecast accurately how much revenue they bring in – which hopefully covers overheads and direct expenses of the business.
MORE ON BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Banish the Idea that Selling is Difficult | How to Win Your First Client | 5 Ways to Make Selling Easier to Swallow | You’re Selling All the Time
This is a good thing, right? Well, maybe not as much as you think.
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Call the IRS for Answers? Good Luck!
IRS insists your call is important. But the numbers don't add up.
The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer:
New year, new strategies
Join the survey. Get the results.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Nothing kills a day like a phone call to the Internal Revenue Service. A caller put on hold during the busy season literally has enough time to go out to lunch and come back before anyone answers.
MORE on TAX SEASON 2020: Does IRS Need a Practitioner Services Division? | Slow Start for Tax Pro E-filing | IRS Urged to Form Tax Pro Strategy | Accountants Cautiously Bullish on Economy | Tax Pros Forecast Better 2020 | Can IRS Enforce the Tax Code? | Tax Pros Upbeat on Busy Season | IRS Undertakes Overhaul
Unfortunately, given the inhuman complexity of the IRS Tax Code, taxpayers often need to call for guidance or advice. Last year, 99.3 million did so, and only 28.6 million of them actually hung on long enough to talk with someone. Over the course of the year, the average time it took to get connected was 16.2 minutes.
Slow Start for Tax Pro E-filing
Tax pro market share down 409,000 from year-ago.
By Beth Bellor
As of the week ending Feb. 7, the latest data available, the Internal Revenue Service had received 28.7 million individual income tax returns, down 0.4 percent from the same week last year. It had processed 27.5 million, down 2.1 percent.
MORE: Data Points Down as Tax Season Opens | The Fight for New Tax Clients
The IRS had processed 96.1 percent of returns received.
E-filing receipts READ MORE →
How to Pursue Federal Tax Lien Marketing
These are motivated clients.
By Michael Rozbruch, CPA
The IRS Audit Notice Checklist
What if the IRS actually published a list of all the names and addresses of the 13.2 million individuals and businesses that have been identified by the IRS that owe back taxes? For those of us who offer IRS representation services, we’d all be millionaires! It would be the “mother” of all lists as we would have a built-in lead generation source.
MORE: IRS Crackdown Spells New Opportunities for Tax Professionals | 2 Emerging Industries for Tax Resolution | 9 Secrets to Getting IRS Penalties Removed | KPIs That Accounting Firms Don’t Measure But Should | 10 Tips for Maximizing Referrals
Needless to say, a list such as this would be invaluable to a practitioner starting (or wanting to expand) a tax resolution business. Unfortunately, the IRS doesn’t publish such a list. However, the next best thing DOES exist!
2020 Outlook: The New Growth Model
Younger employees should have more say in the firm's vision than those about to retire.
By Carrie Steffen
The need for additional capital to fund technology (among other things) is compelling leading firms to focus on better integration of the growth function into the overall management of the firm.
MORE: 2020 Outlook: Making Volume Manageable | More Engagement, Less ‘Efficiency’ | Non-Traditional Hires Might Be the Answer | Focus on Business Development | Innovate and Anticipate | Balance Advisory and Compliance | Talent Shortage Drags On | Demand Is High | Business Development Goes Borderless | Data Import on the Rise | Becoming the Most Valuable Advisor | Top Three Tips for 2020 Success | Where Do You Want to Be? | Dicey Disruptions | Upstream Mergers | Staffing Gets Creative
The previous growth model consisted one or two rainmaking partners creating most of the opportunities with the support of tactical marketing managers or directors supporting the effort through event coordination, sponsorships, branding, online marketing and other positioning tactics. Marketing lived in a separate bucket from other areas of the practice.
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Have You Gauged Your Staff’s Enthusiasm?
You should be eager for this feedback, not dreading it.
By Steven E. Sacks
Have you ever conducted a job satisfaction survey of your firm’s staff?
MORE: Managing Difficult Personalities in the Workplace | Knowledge Maintenance: Gaining Employee Buy-In | How Does Your Firm Leverage Its Talent? | The Lost Art of the Interview | The 5 Keys to Success in Accounting Careers | The Holy Grail: Finding the Right Talent | The Power of ‘Real Influence’ | Stop Wasting Time in Useless Meetings | Is Your Firm’s Culture a Magnet? | Outsourcing the C-Suite
Every so often you should conduct a survey that asks anything ranging from clarity of purpose and level of commitment to flexibility and advancement. It costs nothing to do but will yield important anecdotal data to be addressed by senior leadership. You may find that staff wants more input on developing business or increased exposure to clients and customers.
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Social Security as an Asset Class
Withdraw funds from elsewhere.
By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting
If you have ever worked in the United States or were married to someone who did, the chances are you will eventually receive Social Security benefits.
MORE: When Clients Don’t Know | When the Kids Don’t Want to Take Over | Staff May Surprise You with Leadership | Problem Clients | When Pushing the Pencil Pays Off | When to Say No to Pro Bono Work | I Used to Hate QuickBooks | Things Change
There are different ages when regular benefits can start beginning at age 62. The longer the benefits are delayed, the greater they will be … until reaching age 70.
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5 Mistakes to Avoid When Seeking New Clients
Are you holding yourself back?
By Sandi Leyva, CPA
As an accounting professional, you’re likely very talented at delivering the service you offer your clients. But when it comes to marketing and selling yourself, many of you didn’t voluntarily sign up for that part.
MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Survey Quantifies Link Between Online Reviews, Revenue | Major Search Algorithm Change Could Affect Your Rankings | Is Your Client Newsletter Stuck in the 1990s? | Outsource or In-House? How Does Your Marketing Get Done? | Making Content Marketing Part of Your Growth Strategy | Do You Know Your CAC Number? | Beyond Referrals: Getting New Clients
Many of you are resisting (kicking and screaming) marketing yourself. If that’s you, that could be why your business is slow or not growing at the rate you’d like it to.
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Does IRS Need a Practitioner Services Division?
Practitioner orgs say “Yes!”
By CPA Trendlines Research
The Internal Revenue Service has less than six months to provide Congress with a comprehensive strategy for providing taxpayers with better service. The report, due July 1, is mandated by the Taxpayer First Act of 2019.
MORE: IRS Urged to Form Tax Preparer Strategy | Accountants Cautiously Bullish on the Economy | SURVEY RESULTS: Tax Pros Forecast a Better 2020 | Can the IRS Enforce the Tax Code? | Tax Pros Upbeat on Cusp of Busy Season | IRS Undertakes Overhaul
The IRS is already hammering out a strategy on several fronts – enforcement, technology, modernization, training, cybersecurity, overall structure and organization, and, yes, taxpayer experience.
READ MORE →
When Clients Don’t Know
Investigate motive before diving in.
By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting
We all have clients who wonder what their business is worth and sometimes imagine getting away from it all.
MORE: When the Kids Don’t Want to Take Over | How to Waste Lunch Hour | What’s Your Negotiating Style? | How to Make Your Own Opportunities | How I Became a Published Author | Large Clients We Landed from QuickBooks Consulting | 26 Value-Added Benefits Clients Need to Know | How an Out-of-Work Tax Preparer ‘Saved’ Our Lives
Some even sell, but many more talk about starting the process but are not really committed to selling.
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2020 Outlook: Making Volume Manageable
Remember who's watching.
By Tamera Loerzel
A big issue that I have seen firms struggle with is volume. To help manage and reduce the volume to free up time for proactive, future-oriented initiatives, firm leaders need to get laser focused.
MORE: 2020 Outlook: More Engagement, Less ‘Efficiency’ | Non-Traditional Hires Might Be the Answer | Focus on Business Development | Innovate and Anticipate | Balance Advisory and Compliance | Talent Shortage Drags On | Demand Is High | Business Development Goes Borderless | Data Import on the Rise | Becoming the Most Valuable Advisor | Top Three Tips for 2020 Success | Where Do You Want to Be? | Dicey Disruptions | Upstream Mergers | Staffing Gets Creative
Three places you can start and take incremental steps to make progress in truly driving change in your firm include:
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IRS Urged to Form Tax Preparer Strategy
Taxpayer Advocate says it’s long overdue.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Every year by legal mandate, the National Taxpayer Advocate, who heads the Taxpayer Advocacy Service within the IRS, files a report to Congress. The report identifies problems within the IRS and offers recommendations to solve them.
MORE: Accountants Cautiously Bullish on the Economy | SURVEY RESULTS: Tax Pros Forecast a Better 2020 | Can the IRS Enforce the Tax Code? | Tax Pros Upbeat on Cusp of Busy Season | IRS Undertakes Overhaul
This year, the acting director of the TAS, Bridget T. Roberts, has identified the lack of a comprehensive strategy for the tax practitioner community as one of the IRS’s most serious problems. Although 80 million Americans depend on tax preparers to do their civic duty, the IRS’s efforts to serve practitioners is focused mostly on misconduct issues, not on helping them get the job done.
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Tax Season Is Hacker Season
Checklist: Five things to do today to protect your firm and your clients.
The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer:
New year, new strategies
Join the survey. Get the results.
By Jess Coburn
Applied Innovations
Businesses of all sizes are targets from what has become the most vicious, innovative, and lucrative criminal endeavors we’ve ever witnessed. And tax practitioners are particularly easy targets.
MORE ON BUSY SEASON 2020: IRS Urged to Form Tax Preparer Strategy | 5 Small Leaks That Can Sink a Tax Season | Data Points Down as Tax Season Opens | The Fight for New Tax Clients | 5 Tax Review Keys | Tax Pros Forecast a Better 2020 | See all Tax Season 2020 coverage here
The financial services industry is perhaps the most targeted because of the value of data it possesses. And the most frequently targeted are CPAs and those who prepare tax returns.