Tax Pros Gain Ground, and DIYers Maintain Lead

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Refunds are up over 4 percent.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

With about a month left in the 2024 tax season, the individual income tax returns keep pouring in, and the Internal Revenue Service keeps grinding them out.

The IRS had received 62.8 million returns, down 1.1 percent from the previous year, as of March 8, the latest data available. It had processed 61.9 million returns, down 2.1 percent.

MORE: 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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E-filings

Electronic filings totaled 61.2 million, down 0.9 percent.
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Revenue Growth Is Top Priority for Small Firms

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Cost reduction? That’s on the list, too.

By CPA Trendlines Research

As in years past, CPA firms of all sizes are putting revenue growth at the top of their priority lists.

The rest of their priority lists tells how they plan to get there.

MORE: Survey Shows Challenges, Priorities Shifting | 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? | Ethics on Sustainability Puzzle Some Accountants | Accountants Hopeful, Concerned and Confused about AI
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According to the Wolters Kluwer 2024 Accounting Industry Report, 61 percent of responding firms – 90 percent of which are small firms – are primarily aiming at higher revenues and profits. That’s 11 percentage points above secondary goals.
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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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Refunds Up as Tax Pros Tackle 41.5% of E-filings

* Total refunds issued represent 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.

Also: The IRS realizes a footnote is in order and we are shocked.

By Beth Bellor

Average tax refunds are on the rise, so the weekly filing data has one uptick besides the amount of traffic to the IRS website – an increase that perhaps isn’t a positive.

MORE: Tax Pros Handle 37.7% of E-filings | Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns
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The Internal Revenue Service had received 34.7 million returns, down 5.7 percent from the same period one year ago, as of the week ending Feb. 16, the latest data available. Lower numbers are no surprise, of course, because there had been only 19 days in the 2024 filing season, which opened Jan. 29, compared to the 26 days there had been in the 2023 season, which opened Jan. 23.
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Accounting Hiring Hits Another High

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Overall employment in the accounting profession

 

Tax prep is less than half the increase.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

Is the accounting profession closing its staffing gap?

It sure seems that way, as employment hit an all-time high in January. Women fared well, too, reaching record levels in the field overall and in payroll services.

MORE: Staff Wages Hit Record High | Despite Staffing Crunch, Firms Freeze Pay Raises | Tax & Accounting Firms Grow for 9th Straight Month | Tax & Accounting Profession Grows, but Wages Don’t | Tax and Accounting Pay Advancing at 5.9% Pace | Accounting Jobs Up 4% for Year
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Nationally, unemployment held at 3.7 percent as total nonfarm payroll employment increased 353,000, according to the latest data available to CPA Trendlines Research. Of those new hires, 74,000 came in professional and business services, well above 2023’s monthly average of 14,000.
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Tax Pros Handle 37.7% of E-filings

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Paper still used by 2.2 percent of filers.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

Tax season moves slowly forward, and tax professionals slowly gain ground

MORE: Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns | If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were UsefulThe Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers | Must the IRS Be a Dark Hole? | IRS Plays Whac-A-Mole with the Phones | Tax Pros Are Expanding and Earning More
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As of the week ending Feb. 9 – the latest for which data are available – the IRS had received 25.6 million individual income tax returns, down 11.4 percent from the same period a year ago. It had processed 25.4 million returns, down 4.4 percent.

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