Five Procedures to Simplify Your Tax Season
Yes, there are checklists.
By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide
BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT
Barometer: Firms Brace for a Tough Tax Season
Busy season 2026 clouded by regulatory shifts and client pressures.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Fewer than half of accounting firm leaders report entering the 2026 busy season in better shape than a year ago, according to the new CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer.
MORE Tax Practice | TaxPlanIQ Escalates the Battle in Tax Planning Software | How TaxDome and Juno Just Changed the Tax Tech Game | DOGE, Palantir and the IRS: What Could Go Wrong? | Five Million IRS Refunds Delayed by Staff Cuts | IRS Phone Stats Improve—Unless You’re a Tax Pro | ‘Kryptonite:’ IRS Buried under 8 Million Paper Returns | Mounting Delays Undermine Public Trust in IRS Refund Process | Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients
The readiness gap, evident across firm sizes and specialties, sets the tone for a season overshadowed by heightened concerns about tax law changes and mounting pressure on margins.
Haase, Radzinsky: Inside the TaxDome-Juno AI Alliance
TaxDome and Juno Founders launch integrated end-to-end tax workflow.
Sponsored by “It’s Not Just the Numbers: How to Move Beyond the Numbers and Deliver Real Value for Your Clients”
by Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead – See Today’s Special Offer
By CPA Trendlines Research
In the increasingly crowded and fast-evolving world of practice management software, two upstarts tell CPA Trendlines’ Rick Telberg they’ve found a way to change the game.
MORE in Tech | How TaxDome and Juno Just Changed the Tax Tech Game | Aiwyn Enters Race for the All-in-One Practice Management Platform | Is Practice Management Having Its Moment?
“Clients demand a unified experience — they don’t want multiple portals and logins,” says Ilya Radzinsky, TaxDome’s co-founder, in an interview for CPA Trendlines. “At the same time, firms need complete tax workflows that actually work end to end. This launch delivers both: one seamless client experience paired with AI-powered tax preparation that removes manual data entry and increases firm productivity.”
What Other Tax Pros Want to Know About You
What our Busy Season Barometer didn’t ask (but should have).
By CPA Trendlines Research
The annual CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer is one of the most widely researched and respected surveys of trends at accounting firms across the nation.
MORE Barometer: Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Your Colleagues Give Their Best Advice for Clients | Pro Services, Tech and Mining Sectors Most Likely to Thrive | Accountants See a Host of Woes for Businesses | Top Three Issues for Business: Tariffs, Taxes and Inflation | Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year | Concerns Take Curious Shifts as Tax Season Closes | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos | Accountants Turn Negative Amid Tariffs, Trade, Uncertainty | What CPA Firms Could Do Better | SURVEY: Which Client Industries Will Grow This Year | Tax Preparers Share Advice for Your Clients | Staffing, Tech, Prices Top Tax Pros’ Concerns | Tax Pros Gear Up for a Better Busy Season | Tax Season 2025 Begins. Ready or Not.
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As you know if you’re one of the hundreds of Barometer respondents, the survey looks for a wide range of hard data and subjective opinions. Among them:
- How firms are handling the current tax season
- What their chief concerns are
- Success metrics on client lists, revenues, profits and extensions
Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing
How does your practice compare?
By CPA Trendlines Research
The 2025 CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer survey has been gathering data from hundreds of accountants and tax practitioners across the country. Here are some of the stats on who’s responding and how they’re doing this year.
MORE Barometer: Your Colleagues Give Their Best Advice for Clients | Pro Services, Tech and Mining Sectors Most Likely to Thrive | Accountants See a Host of Woes for Businesses | Top Three Issues for Business: Tariffs, Taxes and Inflation | Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year | Concerns Take Curious Shifts as Tax Season Closes | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos | Accountants Turn Negative Amid Tariffs, Trade, Uncertainty | What CPA Firms Could Do Better | SURVEY: Which Client Industries Will Grow This Year | Tax Preparers Share Advice for Your Clients | Staffing, Tech, Prices Top Tax Pros’ Concerns | Tax Pros Gear Up for a Better Busy Season | Tax Season 2025 Begins. Ready or Not.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
Small firms prevail.
- 24 percent are sole practitioners.
- 42 percent have 2-10 people in the firm.
- 17 percent have 11-25 people.
Your Colleagues Give Their Best Advice for Clients
… and lots of it.
By CPA Trendlines Research
For many people, especially people running small businesses, their accountant is their best, if not sole, source of advice on financial matters, including business administration.
Sometimes they come asking for it.
MORE Barometer: Pro Services, Tech and Mining Sectors Most Likely to Thrive | Accountants See a Host of Woes for Businesses | Top Three Issues for Business: Tariffs, Taxes and Inflation | Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year | Concerns Take Curious Shifts as Tax Season Closes | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos | Accountants Turn Negative Amid Tariffs, Trade, Uncertainty | What CPA Firms Could Do Better | SURVEY: Which Client Industries Will Grow This Year | Tax Preparers Share Advice for Your Clients | Staffing, Tech, Prices Top Tax Pros’ Concerns
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Sometimes they expect their accountant to offer it.
Sometimes they are even willing to pay for it.
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Pro Services, Tech and Mining Sectors Most Likely to Thrive
Cars and construction? Not so much.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Here’s a question for you: Which business sectors are most likely to thrive over the next 12-18 months?
The answer matters. It matters to accounting clients, who need to know where their businesses stand, where they can find customers, maybe where to invest or form partnerships.
MORE Barometer: Accountants See a Host of Woes for Businesses | Top Three Issues for Business: Tariffs, Taxes and Inflation | Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year | Concerns Take Curious Shifts as Tax Season Closes | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos | Accountants Turn Negative Amid Tariffs, Trade, Uncertainty | What CPA Firms Could Do Better | SURVEY: Which Client Industries Will Grow This Year
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And it matters to accounting firms, too. Thriving sectors need good accounting firms.
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Expert Panel: The Year of the Advisor is Here | Accounting Influencers
“Your top clients are your competitors’ top prospects. Are you showing up as their trusted advisor?”
Sponsored by “Radical Pricing: Optimize Profits, Delight Clients, and Build a Top-Value Firm,” by Jody Padar, CPA – See Today’s Special Offer
Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/Youtube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.
Accounting Influencers
with Rob Brown
How well-equipped is the accounting profession to handle rapid technological advancements and a changing workforce? Are firms ready to embrace the future or stuck in outdated models?
Rob Brown hosts an expert panel featuring Angie Grissom, co-owner of The Rainmaker Companies; Itamar Jobani, CEO of PayEM; Todd Robinson, director of practice engagement at Woodard; and James Hickey, chief “cat herder” at Herding Cats; to discuss the future of the accounting profession. The conversation explores critical challenges facing accountants today, such as adapting to technological changes, AI integration, talent retention, and shifting towards a more advisory-based role. The panel shares their unique insights on how firms must navigate cultural shifts, embrace leadership, and rethink their traditional business models to stay competitive.
READ MORE →
Accountants See a Host of Woes for Businesses
Capital, technology and the federal government are just some of the concerns.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Top Three Issues for Business: Tariffs, Taxes and Inflation
Clients will need your help sorting through it all.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year
Revenue and profit both higher.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos
Technology and the economy threw some wrenches into the mix.
By CPA Trendlines Research
This year’s tax season seems to have been pretty good, according to the latest from the CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer, though not quite as good as expected.
Survey respondents went into the season with cautiously optimistic expectations. The percentage who felt that this year they were better prepared for the three-month grind remains constant at about 46 percent, comparing December/January with early April.
MORE Barometer: Accountants Turn Negative Amid Tariffs, Trade, Uncertainty | What CPA Firms Could Do Better | SURVEY: Which Client Industries Will Grow This Year | Tax Preparers Share Advice for Your Clients | Staffing, Tech, Prices Top Tax Pros’ Concerns | Tax Pros Gear Up for a Better Busy Season | Tax Season 2025 Begins. Ready or Not.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
But many who figured they were as prepared this year as ever were apparently in for a sad surprise. Before the season, 41 percent said they were prepared as well as in 2024, but that number plummeted to 25 percent by April. The shift is toward the “worse” end of the scale, with the “much worse” response doubling from 3 percent to 6 percent, and “somewhat worse” nearly doubling from 11 percent to almost 20 percent.
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Start Pondering Next Tax Season Now
Take what you’ve learned and make your practice better.
By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA
Please have a seat. No, not that one. Take the one next to me. All of us are here because we love you to death. We only want the best for you. But we can no longer stand by and watch you suffer. When you suffer, we all suffer as a family. We have written some letters to let you know how we feel. I’ll let your firm go first.
MORE by Frank Stitely
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“Your behavior has affected me negatively in the following manner. I’m not as profitable as I should be. You are stifling the development of your staff. Your clients are upset that returns aren’t getting done on time. Your kids resemble the mailman more than you.
“Please accept the help we are offering you today. We have your bags packed, and we’ll put you on a plane to rehab at the beach. Don’t worry about scoring your next fix. We’ll help you detox safely. But you must decide right now. You must give up your addiction to doing everything yourself.”
READ MORE →