TAX SEASON

Tax Practitioners Say Happy Days Are Here … Again

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Seventy percent report as good or better year than last year.

 

For most, anyway.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The first results of the 2024 Busy Season Barometer: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends are in, and so far, halfway into the tax season, accountants and tax practitioners are reporting another pretty good year.

That’s two in a row!

MORE: The IRS Is Coming! Get Your Clients into Compliance | End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously | Brandon Hall: Firms Try to Make Too Much on Tax Prep | Eight Steps to Getting Started with AI: A Guide for Tax Professionals | The Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers | Tax Pros Are Expanding and Earning More
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Last year, 58 percent of survey respondents said their year was much better or somewhat better than 2022, which, as you may recall, had been a rather rotten year.

So when only 32 percent of this year’s contributors say this season is better than 2023, it doesn’t mean fewer are having a good year. It means almost a third are reporting a year better than a good year.
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Got FOMO When It Comes to AI and ChatGPT? You Should: Here’s What You’re Missing

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… not to mention $856 per week per employee in savings.

By Sandi Leyva

In the 10 months that I have been teaching ChatGPT, I’ve noticed about a third of my webinar participants have set up a free account with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, where they have access to ChatGPT version 3.5. Another third have invested a whopping $20 per month for the paid version, and the remaining third don’t have an account at all. A tiny number of participants are lucky enough to have companies that have invested in the Enterprise version of the software.

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And these are accounting and tax professionals who are eager to learn ChatGPT. If you haven’t embraced the paid version of ChatGPT (individual, Teams or Enterprise), it’s time to learn what you’re missing.

 

 

Check out our courses on ChatGPT,
offered as a deep discount bundle or separately.
Webinar Schedule:
MORE ChaptGPT here

While the free version of ChatGPT can generate answers to thousands of questions, it can’t:

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Ten Tax Prep Questions That People Forget to Ask

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Your clients will appreciate the attention to detail.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Many professionals fail to systematically ask clients some basic and important questions. Here’s my top 10 list of key questions to ask this year. What would you add?

MORE ON TAX SEASON: Try This Clean Slate Exercise | Offer Your Tax Clients Other Services | Can Your Tax Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions? | The Top 12 Mistakes in Tax Return Preparation | Six Types of Person: Which Are You? | Answer These Two Questions First | Help Your Tax Clients, Help Yourself | What’s Your Value to Your Tax Clients? | Are You Excited About Tax Season?
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1. Foreign bank accounts: Make certain you ask every client if they have a foreign account and if they do, report the income and file the proper forms. The penalties are too great if it is wrong.

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End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously

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Clients who want to meet should be more than willing to pay for that meeting.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

What did Dorothy and her friends fear in The Wizard of Oz? “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” Dorothy feared the wrong things if she was a partner in a CPA firm. We don’t see much wildlife in our offices during tax season unless you count fast-food delivery people and the occasional crazy client.

MORE: Get Clients to Understand Firm Processes … or Say Goodbye | Train Now Before It Costs You Down the Road | Keep Clients from “Balance Due” Shock | It’s OK to Say No to Clients (Even the Large Ones) | You Train Your Clients, Whether You Mean To or Not | Business Owners Face One of Three Exits | How Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars | Do You Know Your Turnaround Time?
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We should fear the events that destroy our priorities and drain hours from productive work. Meetings and phone calls and emails, oh my! From a practice management standpoint, let’s look at why these communication methods are so destructive.

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Tax Refunds, Tax Pro Market Share Trending Up

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* Total refunds issued represents returns received and processed in 2024 – the current year only. The number of direct deposit refunds represents returns received in the current and prior year but processed in 2024.

 

How long before more figures flip positive … or might they not?

By Beth Bellor

The 2024 filing season has been seven days shorter than 2023’s, but that’s making less difference as individual income tax returns keep dropping into the Internal Revenue Service inbox, just 3 percent off last year’s pace.

MORE: Tax Pros Handle 37.7% of E-filings | Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns
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The IRS had received 44.6 million such returns as of Feb. 23, the last week for which data has been released. It had processed 44.1 million returns, down 3.6 percent.
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