tax season

tax season 2019 serves up a taste of the future

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“thirty percent of tax services will be obsolete in three years.”

robert hockensmith talks about tax season 2019 on local tv news in phoenix.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

this year’s tax season is giving tax preparers a taste of the future—a future where tax returns are both simpler and more complex.

according to data streaming into the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer survey, tax practitioners are just beginning to get a handle on the radical changes wrought by the tax cuts and jobs act—not just the technical changes to the tax code but the resulting changes to the business of tax preparation.

more: the biggest reason fraudsters run rings around the irs  | the big free-file flop | the demise of schedule a? | refunds still up, but only by 0.7% | survey: busy season goes sour | tax refunds up 1.7% | lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019 | tax refund fury roils busy season | taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding

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robert f. hockensmith, cpa, ea, in phoenix, ariz., and a website site notably named azmoneyguy.com, offers a variety of tax and non-tax services, sums it up thus: “thirty percent of tax preparation will be obsolete in three years. clients will want advice and tax resolution more than preparation for 50 percent of taxpayers. and only 50 percent of all tax returns will be prepared by professional tax preparers.”

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the biggest reason fraudsters run rings around the irs

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irs chases the wrong returns, delaying refunds, wasting resources.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

let’s have a pity party! you’re invited.

let’s pity the internal revenue service for having to identify fraudulent tax returns and taxpayer identities.

more: the big free-file flop | the demise of schedule a? | refunds still up, but only by 0.7% | survey: busy season goes sour | tax refunds up 1.7% | lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019 | tax refund fury roils busy season | taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding

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let’s pity the taxpayer whose tax return gets flagged as fraudulent—or her stolen identity that doesn’t.

and let’s pity the tax preparer stuck between the legitimate taxpayer and the fumbling, under-funded, well-intentioned bureaucracy of the irs. read more →

the irs free-file flop

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percentage of free file users by income demographics

fix it, or lose it.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

can you believe that 70 percent of all u.s. taxpayers could be using free file, yet only 2.5 percent actually are? did we mention “free?”

more busy season: protect your clients’ assets  |  the demise of schedule a?   |  tammy’s tale of tax season tardiness   |  how effective project management makes your life easier   |  survey: busy season goes sour   |  when clients cash out: four smart financial moves   |  lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019   |  the irs mess: taxpayer’s roadmap is a plumber’s nightmare  |  fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out   |  tax refund fury roils busy season

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the reasons are mostly a mystery, but we found five major problems and seven ways to improve the program. if all else fails, even it’s backers agree: give up.

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the demise of schedule a?

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join the survey. get the results.

“if you charge by the form, schedule a’s are almost obsolete.”

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

with the countdown clock running down toward april 15, many tax professionals’ early-season optimism is turning into frustration and anger, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer.

the latest readings from the tracking poll show:

  • only half as many professionals now predict “significant increases” in the number of clients, and who now expect a “significant decrease” has almost doubled.
  • the number of practitioners forecasting revenue gains has been cut in half.
  • the number expecting better profits than last year has been cut by a third.

what’s happening?

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refunds still up, but only by 0.7%

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chart of filing datae-filings are nearly evenly split between the pros and the amateurs.

by beth bellor

the gloomy season continues. the irs is slower than ever before, the tax cuts and jobs act didn’t simplify our lives, and after all the work we put in, we face clients who are upset about their refunds. everyone got an eye on their countdowns?

the internal revenue service had received 67.7 million individual income tax returns as of march 8, the latest data available, down 2.5 percent from the same period in 2018. it had processed 65.3 million returns, down 2.8 percent. read more →

lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019

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broken system. broken trust. broken tax season.

selected irs inventories and levels of service pre-shutdown and post-shutdown

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the government shutdown of 2018-19 was a traumatic experience that cpas and tax preparers will remember, with a shudder, for years to come.

more on busy season: the irs mess: taxpayer’s roadmap is a plumber’s nightmare |  fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out |  refunds rebound, up 1.3% from last year  | tax refund fury roils busy season |  irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt  |  the tax season funnies: worst video game ever  |  taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding  |  1.6 million tax clients gone missing?  |  busy season: fear, hope & frustration  |  alternative minimum tax: what’s it like today? |  clients’ top worry: going broke  |  the latest rules on charitable donations |

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it was the longest shutdown in history, and it hit precisely at crunch time for the tax cuts and jobs act and just as tax season was getting underway.

look at some of the stats from the taxpayer advocate service for service just before and just after (not during) the shutdown: read more →

the irs mess: taxpayer’s roadmap is a plumber’s nightmare

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fixing the irs: add your comments with the busy season barometer here.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

every year, the taxpayer advocate service, an independent agency within the internal revenue service, issues a report to congress on the 20 most serious problems taxpayers face in trying to fulfill their patriotic duty to fund their nation.

 

today’s bonus question: fixing the irs

more on busy season: fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out |  refunds rebound, up 1.3% from last year  | tax refund fury roils busy season |  irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt  |  the tax season funnies: worst video game ever  |  taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding  |  1.6 million tax clients gone missing?  |  busy season: fear, hope & frustration  |  alternative minimum tax: what’s it like today? |  clients’ top worry: going broke  |  the latest rules on charitable donations |

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

taxpayer advocate nina e. olson, who just this year announced her retirement from the agency, notes that identifying the 20 problems that are most serious is not objectively possible or even desirable. sometimes, for example, the problems are the same as those of previous years, so the legislated mandate allows for subjective decisions about what to include. read more →

fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out

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what accountants are saying, in a word cloud

“all it takes is money.” sounds easy? except for the politics.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

wow! we asked for it, and we got it: an avalanche of advice on how to fix the irs.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 has always received smart, candid, and often outspoken responses to our busy season survey—  thousands of tax preparers from sea to shining sea telling us what’s happening in their offices.

click here to open survey

more on busy season:  refunds rebound, up 1.3% from last year  | tax refund fury roils busy season |  irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt  |  the tax season funnies: worst video game ever  |  taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding  |  1.6 million tax clients gone missing?  |  busy season: fear, hope & frustration  |  alternative minimum tax: what’s it like today? |  clients’ top worry: going broke  |  the latest rules on charitable donations  |  busy season: accountants worry for u.s. economy  |  tax shops bulk up for big busy season  |  busy season: the busiest ever? |  more real-time busy season coverage here

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but this year, halfway through the season, we asked a loaded question: how would you fix the irs? the professionals in the trenches of tax prep know what the problems are and what to do about them. they also seemed a bit miffed (to put it mildly) that the solutions seem so obvious, yet the problems keep compounding. read more →

refunds rebound, up 1.3% from last year

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blanton

but filing remains sluggish and tax pro market share loses 1.5 million filers.

busy season barometer
today’s bonus question: how to fix the irs?
join the survey. get the results.

by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

four weeks into tax filing season, we’re seeing some positives.

more: tax refund fury roils busy season | tax pro efiling drops 12.5% after shutdown  | tax shops bulk up for big busy season | 16 big questions for tax season
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

is it a misleading positive because we’re just now seeing refunds that include the eitc and child tax credit? mmm, maybe. but after a gloomy first few weeks, we might be willing to take whatever good news we can get.

“we’re definitely off to a slower start this year.,” cpa and financial planner brian blanton in carmel, ind., tells the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer. “clients are behind in sending in tax information compared to last year.”
read more →