OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Tax Stats Still Playing Catchup

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data tableRefund numbers are down but amounts are up.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

The end is in sight. Documents are signed, buttons are pushed and tax returns are filed. The pile is growing smaller.

If you want optimism, don’t look at the latest Internal Revenue statistics. With the 2023 filing season opening Jan. 23 and the 2024 season kicking off Jan. 29, every week of 2024 reporting has seven fewer days of data than the corresponding period the previous year.

MORE: Tax Pros Take the Edge in E-Filings | Tax Pros Handle 46.4% of E-filing | Tax Refunds, Tax Pro Market Share Trending Up | Refunds Up as Tax Pros Tackle 41.5% of E-filings | Tax Pros Handle 37.7% of E-filings | Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns
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As of the latest report, for March 22, the IRS had received 80.5 million individual income tax returns and processed 79.2 million returns, down 0.3 percent and 1.4 percent respectively from last year. The impact on your firm? Dare we say, none?

Perhaps you’ve been the beneficiary of another stat, though … the one showing tax professionals gaining ever more ground on the self-preparers.
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Accountants Bullish Locally, Bearish Nationally

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One-quarter of accountants see trouble ahead for the source of their bread and butter.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Trendlines 2024 Busy Season Barometer is unearthing a perplexing paradox.

It seems that most CPAs think their firm and their clients will do better this year – or at least no worse than last year, which itself was a pretty good year.

MORE: Top Performers Lead in Leverage, Culling, Outsourcing | Auditing Standards ‘Yellow Book’ Updated | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff? | CPAs Needed to Help Small Biz Adopt AI | Survey Shows That Tech Remains the Great Divide | Will Unclogging the Accounting Pro Pipeline Kill Mobility? | Accountants Bullish on Income | SURVEY: Which Niche’s the Best Niche?
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At the same time, they tend to see things getting worse for the national economy and small businesses in general.

What’s going on?
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Top Performers Lead in Leverage, Culling, Outsourcing

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two hands on keyboard, two hands doing other work with calculator

The causative difference? Look at the amount of work delegated downward.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The AICPA’s 2023 National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) survey has detected some of what distinguishes firms that stand out as top performers.

The survey defines top performers as the top 25 percent of firms based on net remaining per partner.

MORE: Business Booming, but Not as Much as Last Year | Busy Season Barometer Offers Clues for Better Business | End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously | FTC Nails TurboTax for ‘Free Filing’ Scam | Can’t IRS Online Accounts Be More Useful? | Taxpayer Assistance Centers: A Good Idea That Should Be Better | Tax Pros Are Expanding and Earning More
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More, More, More

What makes a CPA firm a top performer? In a nutshell, more:

  • More leverage of partner expertise
  • More culling of clients
  • More CPAs in the firm

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Business Booming, but Not as Much as Last Year

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How does your firm compare?

By CPA Trendlines Research

If the early results from the CPA Trendlines 2024 Busy Season Barometer: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends hold true through April, this will be a pretty good year for the vast majority of accountants and tax practitioners – not quite as good as last year, but still, pretty good.

MORE: Busy Season Barometer Offers Clues for Better Business | Tax Practitioners Say Happy Days Are Here … Again | Brandon Hall: Firms Try to Make Too Much on Tax Prep | If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were Useful | ID Theft a Problem for IRS Even When It Doesn’t Exist | IRS Still Falling Short on Service | Eight Ways the IRS Can Speed Up Processing Tax Returns | Treasury IG Sees Progress at IRS | How Tax Practitioners Became Cybersecurity Risks
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Despite difficulties finding staff and professionals, 45 percent of respondents say they have increased their client list by at least 5 percent. (Last year, it was 65 percent.)

In fact, 14 percent have seen an increase of over 10 percent. Good, but not as good as last year’s 22 percent.
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Busy Season Barometer Offers Clues for Better Business

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workers in busy office

Take a tip from a peer.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends is more than just a survey of the state of the industry at CPA firms across the nation. It also offers clues to what firms are doing to make the busy season better, easier and more profitable.

The clues are in the comments – open-ended answers where practitioners tell us what they’re doing, how they’re feeling and where they’re going.

MORE: Tax Practitioners Say Happy Days Are Here … Again | 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 | FTC Nails TurboTax for ‘Free Filing’ Scam | If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were Useful | ID Theft a Problem for IRS Even When It Doesn’t Exist
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One of the best questions is “What are you doing differently this year?” Each answer reflects an attempt to make the best of a stressful situation – the annual tax season.

Here are a few quotes to think about, categorized by how well various respondents’ seasons are going this year. Each is an idea that might make your year better.
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