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CHARTS & GRAPHS

First Tax Filing Reports Are In

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* Total tax returns processed includes returns received in the prior or current year and processed in 2025. # Total refunds issued represents refunds for returns received and processed in 2025, which reflects current year returns only. However, the number of direct deposit refunds represents refunds for both current and prior year returns processed in 2025, which makes this figure larger than the “total number of refunds” listed for the current year.

 

Refunds are up; everything else is down.

By Beth Bellor

The first week of tax season is over! Cue the applause!

Some of you seem less than excited. We know it’s early. All too early.

MORE: Steve Yoss: Unlocking Business Insight with Power BIs | Quick Tax Tip | 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 | Four Challenges of Managing New Tax Preparers
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Still, it’s time to begin our weekly tally of how things are going, starting with 13.2 million individual income tax returns received as of Jan. 31, down 14 percent from the same period in 2024. The total returns processed was 11.7 million, down 15.8 percent.
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CHARTS & GRAPHS

IRS Processing Up; Payouts Down

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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
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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.
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CHARTS & GRAPHS

Show Us the Money! Accountants Are Making More

young woman holding giant dollar sign in modern office

Want to retain employees? Here’s one way.

By Beth Bellor

More money. That’s what the latest data show for the accounting profession.

The final jobs report of 2024 saw the accounting profession’s numbers slip a bit, but the bodies in those seats were pulling down record earnings. Employees in the profession overall, at CPA firms and non-staff in payroll services saw their highest hourly wages ever.

MORE: Survey Says 57% of Firms Are Raising Prices Next Year | How Accounting Firms Are Handling the Staff Shortage | More Big Firms Shut Their Doors to New College Grads | Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board | Despite Staffing Crunch, Firms Freeze Pay Raises
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And about time! We heard the call for better compensation in the most recent Rosenberg National Survey of CPA Firm Statistics.
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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Tax and Accounting Jobs and Salaries Show Strength

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Overall accounting profession employment hits a glitch.

Hourly earnings fluctuate.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

Despite a slowing increase in employment for the U.S. economy in general, the nation’s tax and accounting sector is improving on most fronts, marking more than four years of solid year-over-year gains.

MORE: New Study: Strong and Steady Growth for Accountant Jobs and Salaries | More Big Firms Shut Their Doors to New College Grads | Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board | Payroll Leads Job Gains in Tax & Accounting Sector
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To be sure, tax and accounting employment nudged slightly down in July, according to the latest data available to CPA Trendlines Research. But it remains ahead of last year’s figures. And record highs are popping in key hiring segments, including staff, CPA firms and payroll services. Is talk of staffing shortages overblown, or would growth be even stronger if more qualified candidates were available? READ MORE →

CHARTS & GRAPHS

Payroll Leads Job Gains in Tax & Accounting Sector

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Overall accounting profession employment

 

Everyone is earning more this month, and most downs are slight.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

The tax and accounting profession is not a bad place for job seekers, it seems. A new analysis by CPA Trendlines shows a lot of up notes, including some in the double digits.

MORE ON JOBS: Let Interns Fix the Staffing Shortage? | Accountants Bullish Locally, Bearish Nationally | Accounting Hiring Hits Another High | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff? | Staff Wages Hit Record High | Despite Staffing Crunch, Firms Freeze Pay Raises | Tax & Accounting Firms Grow for 9th Straight Month | Tax & Accounting Profession Grows, but Wages Don’t
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New highs are coming in:

  • The accounting profession overall
  • Staff earnings
  • Payroll staff
  • Payroll staff earnings
  • Women overall and in CPA firms

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