i attend management of accounting practice (map) cpe programs. in many instances these do not qualify toward the mandatory cpe requirements. who cares?
i go because i want to make more money, work more effectively, service clients better, excite and retain staff, and have more fun doing what i love to do and have to do anyway. read more →
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 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
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.
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.
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.
keep imagining. here are a dozen things an irs portal could do for taxpayers and tax pros.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
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.
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 →
most small businesses are probably paying too much. or, too little. who knows?
s.a.l.t. for the wounds: the total estimated hours per month spent on tax management activities, by industry, with retail the highest at 209 hours. (avalara/potentiate)
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
the true cost of interstate sales tax compliance borne by small businesses is fast mushrooming into a problem of national proportions, according to new research. and while it may be a big opportunity for accounting firms, most small business owners are probably spending too much, or just as worrisome, too little.
according to a 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 survey, 39 percent of accountants believe their small business clients were “mostly not in full compliance” with cross-border collection and remittance requirements. each of those non-compliant clients is a potential problem and an opportunity for their accounting firm.
now a new avalara-sponsored survey looks more closely at “emerging small businesses” (esbs) with under 20 employees, and small and medium-sized businesses (smbs) with 20-50 employees. read more →
taxpayers and their tax preparers have a right to be informed about what’s happening at the internal revenue service. it’s the law, duly legislated and mandated by the u.s. congress in the taxpayer bill of rights.
how to save clients money while staying off the irs ‘dirty dozen’ list.
a conversation with randy crabtree, cpa
randy crabtree is co-founder and partner of tri-merit specialty tax professionals, a widely followed author, lecturer, and the host of “the unique cpa” podcast.
under new rules, taxpayers filing a valid r&d tax credit claim for refund under irc 41 must provide, at minimum, five essential pieces of “contemporaneous documentation.”
here crabtree addresses a few of the biggest questions.
the new rules include:
all business components that form the factual basis of the r&d tax credit claim for the claim year.
all research activities performed by business component (i.e., this must include a description of what the taxpayer did, and how they did it, by business component).
all individuals who performed each research activity by business component. (i.e., this can be a list, table, or narrative but must include the first and last name, and the title/position of the person or persons engaged in the r&d by business component).
all the information each individual sought to discover by business component. (i.e., this can be a list, table, or narrative providing the information each individual sought to discover).
the total qualified expenses of employee wage expenses, supply expenses, and contract research expenses.
question: randy, why is the irs suddenly clamping down on those claiming the r&d tax credit? has there been a spike in fraud?
collecting taxes upfront: in mexico, tax returns, accounting records, and other tax disclosures must be filed in standard electronic format, driving down the cost of tax collection by 57 percent between 2006 and 2018. meanwhile, revenue generated by audits rose an astonishing 117 percent between 2015 and 2020. (source: better than cash alliance, the u.n., via avalara)
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accounting professionals may be focused for now on tax season 2022. but right around the corner, a revolution in tax is coming, if the united states can get out of its own way.
ready or not, here it comes: digitized sales tax compliance. the compliance might happen immediately after a transaction or right in the middle of it with a tax agency in between the buyer and the seller.
it isn’t happening in the u.s. yet, but at least three states are thinking about it, and in 83 other countries, it’s already a thing. in california, florida, and massachusetts, it may soon be a thing. the federal reserve and the business payments coalition have already launched a pilot program to standardize electronic invoicing systems.
digitized tax compliance is far more than the mere e-filing of invoices and tax returns. it’s the movement of paper compliance activities to the cloud, where tax authorities can not only see transactions but, in some countries, actually, get involved in them.
the potential opportunities for accountants, auditors, and tax practitioners are as yet unknown, but where there is change, there is opportunity.
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.
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.
with accounting talent so scarce, tax and accounting firms may be surprised to find untapped talents within their current staff, according to tyler anderson, partner and director of a&a innovation at accountability plus.