According to the latest data, the Internal Revenue Service has received 28.8 million individual income tax returns, up 9.1 percent. It has processed 26.6 million returns, up 13.6 percent.
As of Feb. 3, the end of the first week of collections, the IRS had received 19 million individual income tax returns, up 13.5 percent from the same week in 2022. It had processed 16.8 million returns, up 29.1 percent. READ MORE →
Over 46 percent of respondents expect a five to ten percent expansion of clientele, and another 13 percent say theirs will swell by more than ten percent.
In Van Nuys, Calif., Steve Glick came up with a new concern: “Now the software companies—TurboTax, Intuit, etc.—are competing against their customers by preparing tax returns.”
Gretl Siler, at Succentrix Business Advisors, in Panama City, Fla., has the problem everyone wishes they had, plus the one everyone wishes they didn’t. She says, “Note that I am not having any problem with increasing prices or with competitors. The problem is too many new clients and staffing… plus the IRS is still terrible.”
To be sure, there’s Bob Langworthy, the founder of southern Maine’s Management Accounting. He couldn’t name a single concern. “None!” he says. “We served 1,000 clients last year and already have more than 200 committed new clients this season.”
For 2023, the CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer expanded the list of possible concerns, 24 in all, plus an “other” option. It’s our longest list ever, and accountants checked off each and every possible worry.
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