Tax Refunds, Tax Pro Market Share Trending Up

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* Total refunds issued represents returns received and processed in 2024 – the current year only. The number of direct deposit refunds represents returns received in the current and prior year but processed in 2024.

 

How long before more figures flip positive … or might they not?

By Beth Bellor

The 2024 filing season has been seven days shorter than 2023’s, but that’s making less difference as individual income tax returns keep dropping into the Internal Revenue Service inbox, just 3 percent off last year’s pace.

MORE: Tax Pros Handle 37.7% of E-filings | Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns
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The IRS had received 44.6 million such returns as of Feb. 23, the last week for which data has been released. It had processed 44.1 million returns, down 3.6 percent.
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Refunds Up as Tax Pros Tackle 41.5% of E-filings

* Total refunds issued represent returns received and processed in 2024 – the current year only. The number of direct deposit refunds represents returns received in the current and prior year but processed in 2024.

Also: The IRS realizes a footnote is in order and we are shocked.

By Beth Bellor

Average tax refunds are on the rise, so the weekly filing data has one uptick besides the amount of traffic to the IRS website – an increase that perhaps isn’t a positive.

MORE: 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 34.7 million returns, down 5.7 percent from the same period one year ago, as of the week ending Feb. 16, the latest data available. Lower numbers are no surprise, of course, because there had been only 19 days in the 2024 filing season, which opened Jan. 29, compared to the 26 days there had been in the 2023 season, which opened Jan. 23.
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Tax Pros Handle 37.7% of E-filings

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Paper still used by 2.2 percent of filers.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

Tax season moves slowly forward, and tax professionals slowly gain ground

MORE: Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns | If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were UsefulThe Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers | Must the IRS Be a Dark Hole? | IRS Plays Whac-A-Mole with the Phones | Tax Pros Are Expanding and Earning More
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As of the week ending Feb. 9 – the latest for which data are available – the IRS had received 25.6 million individual income tax returns, down 11.4 percent from the same period a year ago. It had processed 25.4 million returns, down 4.4 percent.

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Transferring Business Interests to Optimize Estate Taxes

couple sitting across desk from advisorStrategic estate planning could save your clients millions.

By Anthony Venette, CPA/ABV

We stand at the precipice of the largest wealth transfer in American history. Millions of business owners are struggling to write the next chapter of their companies and their legacies. Prudent gift and estate tax planning can be the difference between creating generational wealth and squandering it. Gifting privately held business interests to a child or children can be an effective and tax-efficient way to maximize wealth transfer and achieve legacy planning goals.  

MORE: Enhance Wealth by Mitigating Taxes | Your Client’s Instincts Are Wrong | Preserving Wealth Is a Different Mindset | Three Approaches to Investment Consulting | Cashing Out: Your Business Clients’ Five Big Issues
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That being said, many business owners are unaware of the benefits of gifting interests in their businesses rather than cash. Here are four important reasons why gifting business interests can be advantageous: 

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Tax Season Opens with Refunds Up 85%

data tableNearly two-thirds of returns have been self-prepared.

By Beth Bellor

The latest tax season is off to a roar, with refunds up 85 percent and processing up 29 percent above last year at this time.

MORE ON TAX SEASON: MORE: Marchternity: Just Say ‘No’ | Marchternity: The Solution Is Community | Why the IRS Is Still Doing Data Entry By Hand | News on IRS Is Maybe Sort of a Little Bit Good | Why We All Hate the Tax Code | How Bullish Are You This Tax Season? | Accountants’ Top Problems for Tax Season 2023 | Tax Season 2023: Better or Worse?

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As of Feb. 3, the end of the first week of collections, the IRS had received 19 million individual income tax returns, up 13.5 percent from the same week in 2022. It had processed 16.8 million returns, up 29.1 percent.
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SURVEY: Tax Software Favorite Keeps Crown

Firm size may matter.

The Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey

UltraTax CS is the tax software most used by firms in our survey, at 24.2 percent of respondents.

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MORE: SURVEY: Workflow Is a Problem. So Why Aren’t Firms Buying Solutions? | Zoom, Teams Top Meeting Choices | One in Four Firms Replaces Servers by Schedule | You’re Probably Not Reading This on an iPad | 52% of Firms Look Outside for IT Support
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It topped the choices last year as well … but at 26.7 percent.

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Tax Pro E-filing Gains vs DIY

data chartRefund amounts are up by double digits.

By CPA Trendlines

Fewer returns are coming in than in 2021 but they’re being processed faster, according to the latest data available.

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Individual income tax returns received totaled 91.3 million as of the week ending April 1, down 2.1 percent from the same week the previous year, when the tax season began 19 days later and ended 29 days later. Processed returns were at 89.3 million, up 6.6 percent. That put the latest processing rate at 97.8 percent.
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