BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

Five Procedures to Simplify Your Tax Season

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Three young businessmen in office training session

Yes, there are checklists.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

One way to guarantee extra work is to have everything always done differently each time it is done.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
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Not establishing uniform procedures is bad business and unnecessarily consumes part of your life. Consistency in performance reduces work and review time and creates a greater reliance on the staff people.
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Barometer: Firms Brace for a Tough Tax Season

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Busy season 2026 clouded by regulatory shifts and client pressures.

Ready or Not: Less than half are ahead of last year’s preparation for Tax Season 2026. On the Front Lines: Clockwise from top left, Cicero, Saul, Krueger

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.

Join the survey; Get the answers

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.

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Haase, Radzinsky: Inside the TaxDome-Juno AI Alliance

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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.”

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What Other Tax Pros Want to Know About You

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Group of businesspeople hiding their faces behind question mark signs at office

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

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Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing

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blue pencil marking survey

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.
GoProCPA.comExclusively 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.

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