IRS dysfunction replaces OBBBA as top concern.
By CPA Trendlines
With only a week to go before the opening of filing season 2026, tax practitioners are focusing on IRS dysfunction as their biggest potential problem this year
And no wonder. The agency was already chronically underfunded, buried under a mountain of overdue paperwork, and crippled by ancient computer systems when it lost 25% of its workforce in early 2025.
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MORE TAX, PRICING, and THE 2026 OUTLOOK
Today 63% of tax professionals say a beleaguered IRS poses the single biggest risk to this year’s tax season, up from 54% just a couple of months ago, according to the CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer.
The Barometer’s pulse checks on the profession also show concerns about staffing shortages intensifying as the season approaches, with 42% reporting the issue, up from 34% two months ago. Meanwhile, tax code and regulatory changes fell to 47% from 61% as new guidance emerged. And late or unprepared clients clock in at 47%, up two points. Staffing, tech, and pricing fill out the top of the worry list.
Nevertheless, accountants are fighting back, with new strategies, updated tech stacks, and fresh attitudes.
“After reading about AI for 40 years, it is really nice to get my hands on it,” says Frank Stitely at SK CPAs in Rockville, Md. “We are going to go through a period of disillusionment, as with all technologies. But we will get through that and be better off on the other side,” says the best-selling author of the CPA Trendlines practice guides, “The Relentless CPA,” and “TurboCharge Your Profits: How to Thrive in the New Economy.”
Some are tackling the tardy client problem head-on. “We’re offering live onboarding for tax season so that we don’t have to go back and forth so much via secure message, phone, or email to get what we need,” says Corinn R. Woodard, CEO at Anne Arundel Accounting and Taxes in Baltimore.
“I’m very intentional about who we take on,” Woodard tells wanna-be clients. “We may not be the right fit if you’re looking for last-minute miracles or rushed shortcuts.”
A.I. in the mix
Others are embracing new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.
At Moore Global in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Matías Tejero, global leader for the media, advertising, and entertainment business, says his firm is seeking to “become more efficient using AI and automation, while training staff to become consultants and be ready to add value to our clients.” And yes, Argentina has a distinct tax season, though it’s generally around May, June, or August, and companies file on a fiscal year basis.
The tech transformation is also underway in Edmond, Okla, where David Brady, managing partner at Luton CPAs, is going “more and more digital,” as “legacy clients fall off naturally.” And new clients come in at new, higher rates.
CPA Gary Brown in Georgetown, Texas, just up the road from Austin, is “trying to be more efficient with electronic data entry tools.”
Billing rates
On the pricing front, some firms say fee increases are unavoidable, given rising labor, software subscription, and overhead costs. Others describe a different dynamic: capacity is scarce, and that shifts leverage toward the firm.
Rates are going up in the Chicago suburbs of Geneva and Hinckley, Ill., where Kathleen Dienhart is increasing prices by 10% and still adding more capacity with a seasonal reviewer.
The pricing story is not only about higher rates. It is also about controlling scope. Several respondents pointed to updated engagement letters, improved organizers, and tighter review processes as ways to reduce write-downs and keep the work profitable.
Client readiness–or the lack thereof–is forcing tougher enforcement. Accountants repeatedly cite work coming in late, incomplete, or in the wrong format. The result is churn and burn — more follow-up, more rework, and more stress packed into fewer weeks.
Firing clients
At Svihla CPAs in Terre Haute, Ind., namesake Bill Svihla is “setting deadlines for chronically late clients to provide all information.” They will also “fire some clients who only respond, literally, at the extended due date of returns.”
Several accountants say the only sustainable answer is to enforce engagement terms and client deadlines. That includes refusing last-minute work, charging rush fees, and being more selective about new clients. In practice, many firms are trying to “train” clients to behave differently by attaching real consequences to late delivery.
J. Susie Beck, in Indianapolis, is already “having a better tax year than last year.” She says, “Last year was the worst tax year I’ve had in regards to my clients in 29 years. Not paying me, not picking up their returns for months, and bringing info to me right up to the deadline.”
Kevin Vann, one of three principals at Dufault Vann Carella in Springfield, Mass., might agree. At his firm, they’re “instituting some more efficiencies and hopefully better staff training under the new OBBBA.”
Battling for bandwidth
But, in the end, busy season is about controlled chaos. That’s why Cathleen Volk, at Accountable Business Solutions in Warsaw, N.Y., between Buffalo and Rochester, is looking at “managing workflow better.” Her plan: “implementing some new or different systems which should afford us some efficiency to free up our existing bandwidth.”
Compressed deadlines and IRS friction continue to be a drag. Some respondents cited routine operational issues: difficulty reaching the agency, slow resolution of client problems, and the ripple effects of notices and processing delays. Others focused on the filing calendar itself — too much work crammed into too little time.
For others, technology is part solution, part new problem. Practitioners describe a familiar pattern: investments in tools and automation are necessary to scale work, but implementations take time and can introduce new friction during deadline season.
Several respondents describe workflow and bandwidth management as the real goal. The technology is useful to the extent that it reduces manual work, speeds review, and improves document capture. The risk is that firms spend time “tuning” systems when they most need stability.
Backend workflows
Down the Jersey Shore in North Wildwood, N.J., one local practitioner “would like to get better tech solutions, but as we have a legacy client base, converting them to digital workflows on the front end is difficult. We continue to push backend workflows with SafeSend, but are topping out around 40% using it.”
“My word for 2026 is delegate,” says a practitioner in Fort Smith, Ark., the Old West frontier town on the Oklahoma border. The firm’s owner says they “will be “working hard to pass as much work downward through the organization as possible. This should improve our utilization number below the director/manager level and free me up to take on the more challenging work that only I can do.”
In the seaside town of Tuckerton, N.J. (Exit 58 on the Garden State Parkway), Jim O’Toole has been busy. He has already “added a new staff member, moved to larger offices, and added more organization and processes.”
Mixed signals, uncertain plans
This busy season may not be defined by a single constraint. Economic signals are mixed, and planning is uncertain. Some cite resilience in local markets, while others talk about hesitation and delay — clients deferring decisions because they cannot forecast costs, pricing, or demand.
The data suggest multiple pinch points are rising simultaneously: client behavior, price sensitivity, IRS friction, and technological change. The firms that come out ahead may be the ones that treat client readiness as a managed process — backed by clear deadlines, clear scope, and pricing that reflects the true cost of last-minute work.