IRS

IRS Loves e-Filing. So Why the Barriers?

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IRS BURIED IN PAPER: Even with 91 percent of returns e-filed, that leaves more than 33 million paper returns pouring into the IRS annually.

What to do with clients who insist on paper?

By CPA Trendlines

E-filing may be the best thing to happen to the IRS—and tax preparers—since the invention of paper and red tape.

  • It beats paper on cost—just 36 cents to process, vs. $15.21.
  • It beats paper on speed—a couple of hours from sending to acceptance, vs. days to mail, more days to open, more days in storage, more days to transcribe, and maybe months more to process.
  • It beats paper on accuracy—no need for transcription.
  • It beats paper on convenience—taxpayers can e-file in minutes from a desktop; IRS can store and move e-files easily and instantly.
  • It beats paper on inconvenience—e-filing allows continuous processing regardless of weather, pandemics, etc.

MORE TAX: Two Big (and Obvious) Ways IRS Could Work with Practitioners  | Imagine a Fully Online IRS | The Real Cost of Interstate Sales Tax | IRS At Death’s Door? | Beyond Tax Prep: The Big Cha-Ching! | Crisis at the IRS | The IRS’s 10 Biggest Problems | Fear and Loathing for Tax Season ’22 |  Padar Joins VC-Backed Tax Fintech for Banks |  COVID Chokes an Already Crippled IRS | Tax Regs for the Metaverse | 10 Steps to a Superior Tax Department | Accountants Critical of Competitor Price-Cutting |  Automate Busy Season with Apps You Already Use | Sales & Use Tax Costs Are Higher than Anyone Thought | Survey: Nobody Loves the Wayfair Decision | Busy Season Forecast: More Chaos  | A Woman Named Wanda Leaves an IRA Nightmare  | Are You Under-Pricing Your Client Accounting Services?  | Your Best Advice: Get Smart, Get Tech, Get Moving | Worries for Small Business Clients |

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So why does the IRS still have barriers limiting e-filing? READ MORE →

Two Big (and Obvious) Ways IRS Could Work with Practitioners

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Both could be simple and cheap. If only.

By CPA Trendlines

The IRS has been making some progress in improving the functionality of individual taxpayer Online Accounts. Progress has been slow but in the right direction.

MORE TAX: Imagine a Fully Online IRS | The Real Cost of Interstate Sales Tax | IRS At Death’s Door? | Beyond Tax Prep: The Big Cha-Ching! | Crisis at the IRS | The IRS’s 10 Biggest Problems | Fear and Loathing for Tax Season ’22 |  Padar Joins VC-Backed Tax Fintech for Banks |  COVID Chokes an Already Crippled IRS | Tax Regs for the Metaverse | 10 Steps to a Superior Tax Department | Accountants Critical of Competitor Price-Cutting |  Automate Busy Season with Apps You Already Use | Sales & Use Tax Costs Are Higher than Anyone Thought | Survey: Nobody Loves the Wayfair Decision | Busy Season Forecast: More Chaos  | A Woman Named Wanda Leaves an IRA Nightmare  | Are You Under-Pricing Your Client Accounting Services?  | Your Best Advice: Get Smart, Get Tech, Get Moving | Worries for Small Business Clients |

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Now it’s time for the IRS to aim for two huge new improvements: online accounts for businesses, and expansion of the functionality of Tax Pro Accounts for tax practitioners.

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Imagine a Fully Online IRS

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Keep imagining. Here are a dozen things an IRS portal could do for taxpayers and tax pros.

By CPA Trendlines

As taxpayers and tax practitioners enter yet another tax season of uncertainty and turmoil,  the issue of needed improvements at the IRS lingers like a hangover with a viral infection.

MORE TAX: The Real Cost of Interstate Sales Tax | IRS At Death’s Door? | Beyond Tax Prep: The Big Cha-Ching! | Crisis at the IRS | The IRS’s 10 Biggest Problems | Fear and Loathing for Tax Season ’22 |  Padar Joins VC-Backed Tax Fintech for Banks |  COVID Chokes an Already Crippled IRS | Tax Regs for the Metaverse | 10 Steps to a Superior Tax Department | Accountants Critical of Competitor Price-Cutting |  Automate Busy Season with Apps You Already Use | Sales & Use Tax Costs Are Higher than Anyone Thought | Survey: Nobody Loves the Wayfair Decision | Busy Season Forecast: More Chaos  | A Woman Named Wanda Leaves an IRA Nightmare  | Are You Under-Pricing Your Client Accounting Services?  | Your Best Advice: Get Smart, Get Tech, Get Moving | Worries for Small Business Clients |

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Are we facing another year of delays, doubts, and unanswered questions? Will paying taxes ever become a smooth and efficient process?

Imagine a world in the distant future where a common, ordinary taxpayer can pull a computer from a pocket, link into everybody’s favorite revenue service and… READ MORE →

Is This How the IRS Dies?

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IRS, losing staff it can’t replace, slides further into chaos and oblivion.

Sound-Off: How would you fix the IRS?
Join the survey. Get the results.

By CPA Trendlines

Internal Revenue Service employees are resigning and retiring in droves, leaving the agency increasingly powerless to fulfill its mandate as the nation’s tax collector.

MORE: Crisis at the IRS | The IRS’s 10 Biggest Problems | Fear and Loathing for Tax Season ’22 |  Padar Joins VC-Backed Tax Fintech for Banks |  COVID Chokes an Already Crippled IRS | Tax Regs for the Metaverse | 10 Steps to a Superior Tax Department | Accountants Critical of Competitor Price-Cutting |  Automate Busy Season with Apps You Already Use | Sales & Use Tax Costs Are Higher than Anyone Thought | Survey: Nobody Loves the Wayfair Decision | Busy Season Forecast: More Chaos  | A Woman Named Wanda Leaves an IRA Nightmare  | Are You Under-Pricing Your Client Accounting Services?  | Your Best Advice: Get Smart, Get Tech, Get Moving | Worries for Small Business Clients |

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Like every other problem the IRS has, inadequate staffing is fundamentally caused by inadequate funding. As the IRS budget declined by 20 percent between 2010 and 2021, staffing declined by about the same percentage, dropping from 94,711 full-time positions to just 75,773. Meanwhile, of course, the number of taxpayers increased.

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