Tax seasons past and future are on the minds of many practitioners despite the summer slowdown. Many, like Kim Cooney, ponder the way things worked this year and wonder what's on the horizon for next year.

"Overall, we did things pretty well," said Cooney, tax practice leader at the Reno, Nev., office of Grant Thornton. "The main thing we did differently is we didn't lose the month of January. We managed January a lot tighter by being proactive in December. Many engagements can be done early, such as smaller business returns and extensions. It's all in knowing the issues early and planning ahead."

"There's a lot more to think about, and you want to make sure you don't ever sacrifice the quality of the return when you can extend it, so be prepared to communicate to the client the reasons for an extension," she added. "Don't consider April 15 or March 15 a hard deadline."

Clients are coming in later because many are getting their information later, according to Cooney. "They think they need all the information before you start the return, but that's not always the case," she said.

The economic downturn has also affected staffing levels during the filing season.

"Companies are being careful about services they buy, and that includes tax and accounting," she said. "We're not getting the normal attrition in our staff, so we're being a lot more careful in bringing in extra staff. There are some great people we'd love to hire, but we don't want to overstaff and try to fill it with work."

CHECK YOUR CLIENTS

Practitioners should take a look at how the economy has affected the profile of their clients, advised Bob Scharin, senior tax analyst for the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters.

"With the high unemploy­ment rate, practitioners might want to brush up on certain law provisions that they haven't dealt with much in the past, such as the earned income credit and cancellation-of-debt income," Scharin explained.

"Many people have been taking early retirement plan distributions, whether from an IRA or a former employer's 401(k) plan," he said. "There's a 10 percent additional tax on premature distributions, but there are a variety of exceptions. There's a new exclusion for up to $2,400 for unemployment benefits. And a number of clients that have capital loss carryovers from a prior year may need advice as to whether they should realize gains in 2009 because they have losses carried over from 2008."

The recession has affected the clients of tax practitioners to the extent that many are hurting economically or going out of business, according to Salim Omar, a Cliffwood, N.J.-based CPA. "The practitioner should consider positioning themselves as an expert," he said. "It helps to target a specific group of prospects."

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