Here’s what you’re looking for: CPA Trendlines Research

CHARTS & GRAPHS

Remote Work Is Here to Stay

pie chart
The Next Normal Arrives: Fully 81% of accounting firms see an increase in remote work even as they re-open their offices. (Convergence Consulting)

As accounting firms re-open, they’re competing for talent on work-from-home plans and reaping windfalls with smaller offices.

By CPA Trendlines

No doubt about it, a capacity to work remotely has saved the tax and accounting business.

The question now is: What will tomorrow’s tax and accounting offices look like, post-pandemic?

MORE:  Learning How to Hire amid COVID | SURVEY: CPA Firms Reject Staff Vaccine Mandates   |  COVID-19 Changed What We Watch and How  |  Why Remote Workers Need Retreats   | Steven Braunstein: New COVID Strategies for Staff Recruiting and Retention   |  Josh Fisher: Battling for Staffers  |  “The New Normal” Will Never Be Normal Again   |  How and When to Leverage ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and Social Media  |  How COVID Rewrites the Rules for Recruiting  |  Staffing Shortage? Look at Your Business Model

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In fact, the increase in remote work is likely to continue and expand in the future. READ MORE →

CHARTS & GRAPHS

Closing the Tax Gap: More Data, More Compliance?

Tax professionals should brace for a new wave of information reporting.

Misreporting by Income Category: The staggering difference in the tax gaps left by workers with income subject to information reporting and withholding compared to those with income subject to little or no information reporting – less than $10 billion compared with more than $150 billion. (via U.S. Department of Treasury)

By CPA Trendlines Research

Here’s something the IRS has discovered and many tax preparers can probably confirm: While roughly 99 percent of taxes due on wages are paid to the IRS, compliance on less visible sources of income is estimated to be just 45 percent.

MORE: How Charlatans, Creeps, and Ghosts Plague the Tax Profession | Grappling with the Tax Gap | Wealthiest Taxpayers Cheat IRS Out of $400 Billion a Year | 173% Increase in IRS Correspondence Backlog | Hunker Down: The IRS Backlog Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon | The IRS Studebaker Bomb | Imagine IRS ‘Concierge’ Service. Just Imagine. | IRS Has Recruiting Problems, Too
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Yes, it seems that Americans are more willing to pay what they owe when the IRS knows they owe it.
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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

SURVEY: CPA Firms Reject Staff Vaccine Mandates

Post-Pandemic: Staffing tops lists of concerns, remote work here to stay. 

Some 37% of CPAs say their firms and companies will be making remote work options a permanent fixture. (via VSCPA)

By CPA Trendlines
via the VSCPA

The future of the tax, accounting, and finance workplace will include more remote working and hybrid options in the wake of the pandemic — and some office footprints will shrink, according to a new survey of CPAs. But vaccinations won’t be required in many offices.

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FEATURED

How Charlatans, Creeps, and Ghosts Plague the Tax Profession

AICPA backs bill to regulate tax practitioners.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Here’s a shocking stat from the Treasury Department:

“… unregulated preparers who lack the training to provide accurate tax assistance … submit more returns than all other preparers combined.”

MORE: Grappling with the Tax Gap | Wealthiest Taxpayers Cheat IRS Out of $400 Billion a Year | 173% Increase in IRS Correspondence Backlog | Hunker Down: The IRS Backlog Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon | The IRS Studebaker Bomb | Imagine IRS ‘Concierge’ Service. Just Imagine. | IRS Has Recruiting Problems, Too
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That sounds like trouble in a number of ways:

  • Unwitting taxpayers may be paying more taxes than they owe.
  • Taxpayers may be left liable for shoddy or shady tax preparation.
  • The IRS may be collecting less than it could.
  • Taxpayers may be left in a lurch when the IRS has questions but the preparer has disappeared.

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CHARTS & GRAPHS

SALT: The Small Business Disaster Waiting to Happen

More Highlights: “Tax Season from Hell.” The pandemic pivot. Small business outlook. Digitally-powered recovery.

Small business SALT: 98% of accountants say small businesses are vulnerable to interstate sales tax issues, including 7% who say “none or almost none” are in compliance and 39% who say “most” are not and another 39% saying only “some” are.  (CPA Trendlines Research)

 

By CPA Trendlines

Three years after the notorious “Wayfair” decision, accountants say a vast number of small businesses face new and burdensome interstate sales tax measures. But only a few accountants appear ready to help, according to new research by CPA Trendlines.

MORE: Survey: Rough Seas Ahead for Small Business

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Most accountants believe that 98 percent of small businesses – virtually all – are failing to fully comply with all the interstate sales tax issues they may be liable for. And yet, about 71 percent of accountants are falling short of handling all their clients’ sales tax issues, with about 12 percent saying they address “most” issues, 36 percent handling “some,” and 24 percent handling none, according to the new study conducted in conjunction with Avalara, the tax management software company.

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