TAX PRACTICE

Say Hello to the New 24-Month Busy Season

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Deann Auman Hill and Mike Shost at AICPA Engage: “The 24-Month Tax Season?”

COVID chaos turns Busy Season 2020 from bad to worse.

BUSY SEASON BAROMETER:
How accountants are battling the Coronavirus recession
Join the survey. Get the answers.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Last year—the good old days!—Busy Season seemed to be about as bad as it could get. Congress enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act without explaining how it was to be enacted, and then changed some things. And then the IRS shut down before the rules could be set and the new forms and schedules made available. And all of a sudden it was April 15.

MORE on the 2020 SEASON: The Mystery of 10 Million Missing Tax Returns | Tax Pro E-Filings Down 20 Percent | IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago | COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings | 2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt | The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed
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Tax practitioners had little good to say about 2019. According to last year’s CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer, 46 percent said 2019 was worse than the previous year. Only 13 percent thought it was “much better.”

That was then.

This is now. And, now is worse.

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9 Big Ways the IRS Could Help Accountants

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Number 9 created by gaps between many small green plastic 9'sDeadlines could change. So could options.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Taxpayer Advocacy Service’s mission is to make life easier for taxpayers, but when it succeeds, it alleviates the burden on tax practitioners as well.

MORE: Flexibility in a Time of Pandemic | What Are IRS FAQs Worth? | The Top Six IRS #FAILS this Tax Season (So Far)
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With that mission in mind, the TAS has set itself a serious series of nine objectives for fiscal year 2021. Each one touches on the services of CPAs and tax practitioners, so it’s worthwhile to follow how successful the TAS is.
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What Are IRS FAQs Worth?

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Not enough, says National Tax Advocate.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The COVID-19 crisis hit the Internal Revenue Service pretty hard.

  • Employees were sent home to quarantine.
  • Entire operations were shut down.
  • Most taxpayer-to-agent communication was impossible.
  • Taxpayer Assistance Centers were shuttered.

MORE: The Top Six IRS #FAILS this Tax Season (So Far)
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Complicating matters, Congress passed a number of initiatives that the IRS had to execute even as it was stripped down to the skeleton crew:
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How COVID Has Pulverized IRS Operations

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Delays, postponements, system failures, shutdowns, and mounting backlogs.

By CPA Trendlines

Taxpayers who filed a 2019 paper return and are entitled to refunds may be in for a long wait, according to the first report to Congress from the new IRS watchdog.

MORE on the 2020 SEASON: The Mystery of 10 Million Missing Tax Returns | Tax Pro E-Filings Down 20 Percent | IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago | COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings | 2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt | The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed
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The IRS was forced to suspend the processing of paper tax returns, and as of May 16, it estimated it had a backlog of 4.7 million paper returns, says National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins, who succeeded long-time predecessor Nina Olsen just as the pandemic was ramping up.

Although the IRS is reopening some of its core operations, it is not clear when it can open and process all the returns sitting in mail facilities, the Taxpayer Advocate Service reports.

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The Mystery of 10 Million Missing Tax Returns

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data chartWhile tax professionals’ efiling pace remains stalled, DIYers grow by 4 million.

BUSY SEASON BAROMETER:
How accountants are battling the Coronavirus recession
Join the survey. Get the answers.

By Beth Bellor

With less than a month to go before 2020’s extended tax deadline, the grind continues.

MORE: Tax Pro E-Filings Down 20 Percent | IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago | COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings | 2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt | The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed
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And the question is: Where are 10 million tax returns that should have been filed by now by professionals?

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