TAX

Tax Pros Handle 46.4% of E-filing

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The happy news for taxpayers: refunds are up.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

The tax deadline, as most Americans define it, is drawing closer, and the country’s tax pros are gaining about 2 percentage points a week in market share of tax filings. Go, accountants!

MORE: 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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The Internal Revenue Service had received 54 million individual income tax returns, down 1.7 percent, as of March 1, the latest data available. It had processed 53.2 million returns, down 2 percent from one year ago. The 2024 season has been seven days shorter than the 2023 season because of a later start date.
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Randy Crabtree: Stress Management for Overworked Accountants

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Tax Chat ’24: How to pause and recharge when you hit the wall in tax season.


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With Seth Fineberg
for CPA Trendlines

Randy Crabtree, perhaps best known as the host of The Unique CPA Podcast, tells Seth Fineberg in this episode of Tax Chat ’24 that tax practitioners can avoid tax-season burnout with just a few simple shifts in their workflows.

MORE CRABTREE: Follow These 3 Rules to Keep Employees Happy

More takeaways:

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The IRS Is Coming! Get Your Clients into Compliance

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10 million high-income taxpayers targeted.

By Eric Green

Those of us in the know have been saying for a while now that the IRS is sending a “wave” of tax notices, and you need to prepare your clients for compliance and, ultimately, remittance and resolution. Well, that day has finally come.

The IRS is launching its long-awaited effort to crack down on high-income taxpayers who have failed to file tax returns.

MORE in TAX: Eight Steps to Getting Started with AI: A Guide for Tax Professionals | What’s Your Value to Your Tax Clients? | Are You Excited About Tax Season? | What the Corporate Transparency Act Means for Accountants | Train Now Before It Costs You Down the Road | Surge Pricing: What Works for Uber Could Work for CPA Firms | Uncooperative Partner Might Not Be the Problem | It’s Time to Fix the Problem of QTIPs and LLCs

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For practitioners, many taxpayers will be scrambling for help from tax professionals.  Understanding how to handle these taxpayers when they come in will have a real impact on how painful the re-entry into the tax system is going to be.

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Ten Tax Prep Questions That People Forget to Ask

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Your clients will appreciate the attention to detail.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Many professionals fail to systematically ask clients some basic and important questions. Here’s my top 10 list of key questions to ask this year. What would you add?

MORE ON TAX SEASON: Try This Clean Slate Exercise | Offer Your Tax Clients Other Services | Can Your Tax Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions? | The Top 12 Mistakes in Tax Return Preparation | Six Types of Person: Which Are You? | Answer These Two Questions First | Help Your Tax Clients, Help Yourself | What’s Your Value to Your Tax Clients? | Are You Excited About Tax Season?
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1. Foreign bank accounts: Make certain you ask every client if they have a foreign account and if they do, report the income and file the proper forms. The penalties are too great if it is wrong.

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End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously

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Clients who want to meet should be more than willing to pay for that meeting.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

What did Dorothy and her friends fear in The Wizard of Oz? “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” Dorothy feared the wrong things if she was a partner in a CPA firm. We don’t see much wildlife in our offices during tax season unless you count fast-food delivery people and the occasional crazy client.

MORE: Get Clients to Understand Firm Processes … or Say Goodbye | Train Now Before It Costs You Down the Road | Keep Clients from “Balance Due” Shock | It’s OK to Say No to Clients (Even the Large Ones) | You Train Your Clients, Whether You Mean To or Not | Business Owners Face One of Three Exits | How Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars | Do You Know Your Turnaround Time?
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We should fear the events that destroy our priorities and drain hours from productive work. Meetings and phone calls and emails, oh my! From a practice management standpoint, let’s look at why these communication methods are so destructive.

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