surveys & research

must the irs be a dark hole?

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documents disappearing into dark hole

taxpayer advocate calls for more transparency.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the internal revenue service is the one federal agency that touches nearly every american. yet too often taxpayers and tax preparers find it all but impossible to see what they need to see in that dark and distant entity.

  • many struggle to access information from the irs.
  • many have difficulty finding clear, timely, dependable guidance.
  • many can’t determine the status of pending issues.

more: 10 tips to the irs for beefing up staff | eight ways the irs can speed up processing tax returns | irs plays whac-a-mole with the phones | ten irs problems that need solutions | treasury ig sees progress at irs | vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep | tax pros are expanding and earning more | with fresh funding, irs shows service improvements | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks | top tax vendors caught red-handed selling private taxpayer data
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  • many can’t understand irs correspondence or how to respond to it.
  • many never find an irs agent who can answer a question authoritatively.
  • many find it impossible to resolve an issue.
  • many, after experiencing any of the above, suffer the stress of confusion and frustration.
  • many end up distrusting the tax system.

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10 tips to the irs for beefing up staff

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two businesswomen meeting in an office

guess who has the federal government’s worst retention rate for employees under 40?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

if you think it’s hard staffing a cpa firm, imagine the challenges at the internal revenue service where

  • the pay’s not so good
  • laws limit bonuses
  • it takes three months to hire an applicant
  • federal bureaucracy gums up the process
  • the hiring process uses antiquated technology
  • only a remote office can authorize many hires

more: eight ways the irs can speed up processing tax returns | irs plays whac-a-mole with the phones | vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

  • the recruitment and retention budgets are austere
  • training programs, spaces and equipment are inadequate
  • more than 100 full-time positions need to be filled every day
  • over half of employees will be eligible to retire within five years

the taxpayer advocacy service says the irs needs to deal with these problems, and it’s going to take money, effort, technology and legislation to get it done.
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eight ways the irs can speed up processing tax returns

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businesswoman with headache at laptop

some of the fixes will require software updates, but some are simpler.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins has determined that delays in the processing of tax returns is one of the most serious problems at the internal revenue service.

millions of americans couldn’t agree more.

more: irs plays whac-a-mole with the phones | ten irs problems that need solutions | treasury ig sees progress at irs | vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep | tax pros are expanding and earning more | with fresh funding, irs shows service improvements | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks | top tax vendors caught red-handed selling private taxpayer data
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

collins’s 2023 report to congress is more than a detailed kvetch. it’s also a buffet of solutions – some that the irs could effect, some that congress needs to legislate.

she offers several solutions to the problems with processing. here are the main processing problems and their solutions:
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accounting jobs back on the rise

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line chart
overall accounting profession employment

 

tax prep is an exception.

by beth bellor

the accounting profession has regained some ground in the most recent jobs data available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research. there are 1,162,100 people employed in the field, up 4,400 or 0.4 percent for the month and 30,400 or 2.7 percent for the year. the figure is just 1,200 shy of the record set in july.

 

more: staff wages hit record high | despite staffing crunch, firms freeze pay raises | tax & accounting firms grow for 9th straight month | tax & accounting profession grows, but wages don’t | tax and accounting pay advancing at 5.9% pace | accounting jobs up 4% for year
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nationally, overall employment – total nonfarm payroll – increased by 216,000 the same month, pegging unemployment at 3.7 percent. professional and business services added 13,000.

accountants are putting in 36.2 hours weekly – the highest mark since october 2022 – up half an hour or 1.4 percent for the month and 12 minutes or 0.6 percent for the year.
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irs plays whac-a-mole with the phones

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frazzled woman yelling at two phone receivers

what, just moving the resources around doesn’t work?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the internal revenue service did a dismal job of answering phone calls in 2021, struggling to pick up the toll-free 1040 phone 11 percent of the time it rang. a year later, that number leaped to a still-dismal 29 percent.

more: ten irs problems that need solutions | treasury ig sees progress at irs | vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep | tax pros are expanding and earning more | with fresh funding, irs shows service improvements | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

so janet yellen did what any treasury secretary would do: she gave the irs a swift kick in the 1040 and committed the service to answering at least 85 percent of calls in 2023 and cutting wait times in half.

and the irs’s customer service representatives did it! yay, right?
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