BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago

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data chart
^ Data for the week ending April 24, 2020

As filers seek stimulus checks.

BUSY SEASON BAROMETER
How’s COVID-19 impacting your firm?
Join the survey. Sound off. Get answers.

By Beth Bellor

Want a bright spot in the IRS’ weekly updates on tax filings? It’s website traffic, more than double what it was a year ago.

MORE: 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 | Tax Pros Trail by 908,000 Returns | Tax Pro IRS Filings Lag by 532,000 | Tax Pro E-Filings Lag by 512,000 Returns | Tax Pros Kick into High Gear
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Everything else? A sea of red.
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‘Singing CPA’ Gets Down with the PPP

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Remember: ‘Wash your hands.’

Steven B. Zelin – The Singing CPA – is rapping out the praises of the Paycheck Protection Program in his new Youtube video aimed at drumming up some new business.

It’s a “fun explanation of the Payroll Protection Program, loans from the Small Business Administration to support small businesses with the economic slowdown from the coronavirus,” says Zelin, CPA, and managing member of Zelin & Associates CPAs in New York City.

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How Accountants Are Coping with COVID-19

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Coping with the COVID crisis- Robert Jones (left), and Stephen Backman
Coping with the COVID crisis: Robert Jones (left), and Stephen Backman. More crisis management strategies: Join the survey. Get the answers.

New methods, new mindsets.

THE BUSY SEASON BAROMETER
Coronavirus Crisis Management Strategies:
Join the survey. Get the answers.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The coronavirus sure did hit quick. It seems like it’s been here since forever, but it didn’t really strike until halfway through the busy season. There were ominous clouds on the horizon in January, but early respondents to the 2020 CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer were generally expressing optimism.

MORE on TAX SEASON: SURVEY: Confronting Coronavirus Chaos | Planning for the Coronavirus Recession | Tax Season Turns Ugly under Coronavirus | Tax Season Turns Ugly under Coronavirus | Coronavirus Culture-Shift Hits Accounting Firms | 41 Items to Check on Business Tax Returns | Tax Season Funnies: The Poetic Versions | How to Stop Drowning in COVID Tax Deadlines [Webinar]

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Then things went downhill fast. But despite the pressures of the tax season, CPAs have been equally fast at adjusting to the new world. They really had little choice. They could innovate. They could close up shop. Or they could get really, really sick.

Innovation seems to be the most popular choice. READ MORE →

What Cannabis Clients Should Look for in an Accountant

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portrait of Harry Shurek
Harry Shure, EA

Beware of pricing by phone.

By CPA Trendlines Research
Cannabizcpa.pro

The production and distribution of cannabis is the newest and most variegated industry in America. Some would even say it’s one of the toughest industries in America in which to do business.

MORE ON CANNABIZ: Suchoff Takes Cannabis Accounting Passion National | Why Are CEOs So Confused? | Kareyna Miller Mines Michigan Cannabis Niche | Cannabis: THC vs. CBD Critical Differences | New to Cannabis? Maybe a Joint Venture Is the Answer | Cannabiz Meets Intellectual Property Protection | Green Bits: Helping Cannabis Retailers Stay Compliant | Silver Leaf CBC: An ERP Platform for Cannabis Companies | CohnReznick Goes National on Cannabis
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It’s illegal everywhere yet legal in some places, but not legal the same way in all places. The federal government considers it a Schedule 1 narcotic right up there with heroin and LSD, yet the Internal Revenue Service is perfectly willing to collect taxes on companies that handle the product.
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Ask This Before Clients Do

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Stack of cards labeled with question marksPlus some suggested answers.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Here are two questions to ask yourself:

  1. Why should clients use you?
  1. Why should staff want to work for you?

MORE: 41 Items to Check on Business Tax Returns | 9 Overlooked Tax Season Resources | What’s NOT to Like about Tax Season? | Can Your Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions?
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You should be clear on the responses to the above two questions. If you can’t clearly articulate the reasons clients should use you and why staff would want to work for you, then why should they?
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COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings

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data chart
Data for the week ending April 17, 2020.
* Total includes returns filed to obtain Economic Impact Payments by those who would not usually file income tax returns.

Why not? Submissions are way down.

BUSY SEASON BAROMETER
How’s COVID-19 impacting your firm?
Join the survey. Sound off. Get answers.

By Beth Bellor

Coronavirus hit IRS data in a couple of ways this week.

People who don’t ordinarily file income tax returns, but did so to obtain economic impact payments, boosted filings higher than they might have been for the week ending April 17, the latest data. In addition, visits to IRS.gov shot up 77 percent over 2019 – the Get My Payment link surely was part of that picture.

MORE: 2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt | The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed | Tax Pros Trail by 908,000 Returns | Tax Pro IRS Filings Lag by 532,000 | Tax Pro E-Filings Lag by 512,000 Returns | Tax Pros Kick into High Gear | Slow Start for Tax Pro E-filing | Data Points Down as Tax Season Opens | The Fight for New Tax Clients
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The Internal Revenue Service reported receiving 116 million individual income tax returns, down 15.5 percent. It had processed 106.6 million returns, up 18.5 percent.
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Tax Season Funnies: The Poetic Versions

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Portrait of a young laughing businessman with tablet computer in officePlus a vision of Hell.
As collected by Robert E. Mckenzie
The only effective way to eliminate tax loopholes is to eliminate politicians.
 

MORE: Tax Season Funnies: A Rabbi’s Advice | The Next Political Party Symbol | Gabriel and Saint Peter Confer | A Tax Lawyer at the Pearly Gates | Gargoyles in the IRS? | The ‘Service’ in IRS
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“We have from time to time complained about the complexity of our revenue laws and the almost impossible challenge they present to taxpayers or their representatives … Our complaints have obviously fallen upon deaf ears.” – Arnold Raum (Former Senior U.S. Tax Court Judge)

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41 Items to Check on Business Tax Returns

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Woman's hand using a pencil on notepadA handy reviewer’s checklist.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Client ________________________ Year _____

Prepared By ___________________ Date _____

MORE: 9 Overlooked Tax Season Resources | More Services for Your Tax Clients | Can Your Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions? | 5 Small Leaks That Can Sink a Tax Season | 3 Steps to Tax Season Happiness
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Notes: 1) The term “owners” will be used to refer to stockholders, partners or members, as the case may be. 2) Even though “trial balance” is used in this checklist, you can use the company’s financial statements if those were what were used for the preparation of the tax return, or computer-generated statements.
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2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt

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^ Week ending April 10, 2020

IRS web traffic surges 22%.

How’s COVID-19 impacting your firm?
Join the survey. Sound off. Get answers.

By Beth Bellor

If you’re looking for bright spots as the United States deals with the global pandemic, avert your eyes from the IRS.

MORE: The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed | Tax Pros Trail by 908,000 Returns
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Although average refunds and website visits are up, everything else is down – in the case of e-filings by tax professionals, down 20.1 percent. Yeowch.
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Good Preparer Procedures Will Reduce Review Time

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Green checks being made on checklistBONUS: A 28-point checklist.

By Ed Mendlowitz
How to Review Tax Returns: The Field-Tested Update

The better the quality of the return that is submitted to the reviewer, the easier it will be for the reviewer allowing them to spend more time using their brain instead of their eyes.

MORE: Why ‘Tick and Tie’ Needs to Die | Use Tax Return Prep for Training and Growth
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Many procedures whose purpose is to reduce reviewer’s time will add to the preparer’s time and occasionally will add to the total time for the return. That is so and should be acceptable because there are more preparers than reviewers.
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