IRS

Eight Quick, Easy Ways to Fix IRS Filing

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Well, “quick” and “easy” on paper. In real life at the IRS, it’s different.

By CPA Trendlines

There’s always room for improvement—even (or, especially?) at the Internal Revenue Service.

For one thing—or really eight things—the process of filing returns could stand a little fine-tuning.

The only problem is, changing some parts of the process require changing the Tax Code, and that requires Congressional legislation, and that requires…well, no one really knows.

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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Here are the eight problems with the process of filing tax returns identified by the Taxpayer Advocate Service—and just as many simple solutions.

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For a Few: Why Busy Season 2022 Beats 2021

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One in four tax practitioners say they’ve learned from last year.

By CPA Trendlines

The 2022 CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer isn’t turning up much optimism, but a good quarter of respondents are telling us that this year just might be better than 2021.

Judging from their comments, however, “better” seems to mean “not as bad.”

MORE: Your Sales Tax Headaches Are Only Just Beginning  |  Six Fixable Problems at the IRS   |  IRS under COVID: Heroes or Goats?   |  IRS Loves e-Filing. So Why the Barriers?  |  Two Big (and Obvious) Ways IRS Could Work with Practitioners   |  Eight Ways to Charm a Client | Plug Small Leaks Before They Become Big Floods | You’re Only as Good as Your Last Screw-Up | Four Issues with ‘Quick’ Tax Questions | When to Pick Up the Phone This Tax Season | These Five Procedures Will Simplify Your Tax Season | 11 Steps to Better Client Tax Instructions

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Out of the 577 practitioners who’ve responded so far, only five percent said that this year is “much better” than last year, though another 21 percent granted that so far it’s “somewhat better.”

But that’s compared with 47 percent who say it’s somewhat or much worse.

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Six Fixable Problems at the IRS

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And the IRS already knows what they are.

By CPA Trendlines

Tax practitioners beware: the IRS has become a mess of misinformation and missing information.

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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It’s isn’t a complete mess, but there are problems… and solutions. We can think of six no-brainer easy fixes. READ MORE →

IRS under COVID: Heroes or Goats?

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Agents resort to filing by forklift.

By CPA Trendlines

Let us pause for a moment of kudos.

Last year, the IRS accepted a mission impossible. It wasn’t just underfunded, understaffed, and underequipped but overloaded, overworked, and overdue.

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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And then Covid came back with a vengeance. READ MORE →