Across the tax and accounting industry, almost all the jobs relinquished by men in the Coronavirus layoffs have been regained by men. The jobs given up by women, on the other hand, are still largely vacant.
Overall, the tax, accounting, tax prep, payroll, and bookkeeping sectors employed 1.02 million full-time equivalents in March 2020, before 70,000 layoffs hit in April. So far, the industry has re-filled all but 17,600 positions.
Sage study finds nearly three-quarters of U.S. small and midsize businesses expect to see pre-pandemic revenue levels by end of the year.
Sage survey: Pandemic prompts innovation
By CPA Trendlines
U.S. businesses are becoming increasingly confident they will return to pre-pandemic revenue levels by the end of 2021, according to a new survey by Sage, a market leader in cloud business management software.
“It’s no surprise the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected small and midsize businesses, along with their employees and customers. As we faced unique challenges at home and work, businesses saw great success implementing new programs, offering flexible work arrangements, and prioritizing commitment to the communities in which they operate,” says Nancy Harris, EVP and Managing Director, Sage North America. “As the world begins to reopen, it is critical that these key learnings from the last year are not lost, and that organizations continue to leverage creativity and technology to foster stronger relationships with employees, customers, and prospects for continued growth.”
The Internal Revenue Service isn’t supposed to consider a taxpayer’s income or wealth when prioritizing Taxpayer Delinquent Accounts. Rather, the Service is supposed to focus on balances due, pursuing collection of higher amounts.
Obviously, many of those higher balances are owed by taxpayers (or tax dodgers) in the higher adjusted gross income brackets, and the IRS believes that pursuing high balance dues effectively addresses high AGIs.
But the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration says that focusing on the balance due is increasing the risk of high earners skipping out on what they owe.
In shorter season, professional e-filings are down only 5.6%.
By Beth Bellor
Year-to-year tax filing statistics stabilized ever so slightly this week, as average refunds slipped out of the red and IRS visits backed off a bit in pace.
The Internal Revenue Service had received 93.2 million individual income tax returns as of April 2, down 4.3 percent from the same period in 2020. In releasing the latest available data, the agency noted that the filing season began 18 days later this year, skewing comparisons. READ MORE →
We all know how the IRS works. They send a letter to a possibly delinquent taxpayer who, in quivering fear, returns a response that is slipped through the mail slot in the IRS door, where it falls into a shredder that feeds into a massive onsite incinerator. The letter’s ashen remains are then loaded onto a rocket and shot toward Alpha Centauri, never to be seen again.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. In 2019, IRS Compliance Services Collection Operations managed to respond to 25 percent of its “inventory” of Taxpayer Delinquent Account correspondence. The other 75 percent was considered “over-aged” after not being dealt with within 45 days of receipt. READ MORE →
As in recent years, accountants are losing ground to DIYers when it comes to individual income tax returns. The question is, do they care? Or is this ground they’re all too ready to yield for more profitable pastures?
The IRS had received 85 million returns as of March 26, down 6.2 percent in a season that started 18 days later than in 2020. It had processed 76 million, down 12.7 percent. READ MORE →
To be more competitive, CPAs need to shift their focus from compliance service to process-oriented, value-added work, veteran CPA David Bergstein tells CPA Trendlines. This means working with clients to understand their business operations, competition, and financial challenges, such as liquidity, solvency, and profitability.
Accountants need to switch their focus to look to the future and real-time accounting, which means that the right way of doing things these days is to take advantage of all technology and automation.
It’s a small and mid-size business that doesn’t have a bookkeeper, that doesn’t have an accountant, that doesn’t have a controller, that doesn’t have a CFO that looks to CPAs to help them. CPAs’ advantage is to use that technology to automate all those processes and then spend time selling value-added services.
Today, to be successful as an accountant, you must identify what platform or platforms you’re going to use to capture your clients’ data at the source to move it through the system.
Payroll tax processing services can be expanded by setting up the human resource tools that go with it. Beyond processing payroll, CPAs can find ways to get lower workman’s compensation; automate the onboarding of employees, and provide various benefit options.
As part of the de-emphasis on process, younger staff members don’t want to do vouchering anymore, which will be supplanted anyway by automation. So, it’s great for firms to offer more training opportunities to their younger staff regarding analytical thinking, selling, and how to consult with clients to find out what their needs are.
Transcript
David Bergstein, interviewed bySteven Sacks READ MORE →
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And the IRS is looking the other way.
In shorter season, professional e-filings are down only 5.6%.
Who knew?
Refunds are down 19% in number and total amount.