Tax season

For tax preparers getting ready for tax season, the environment has changed, according to Annie Schwab, tax manager at Padgett Business Services.

Tax pros discuss do-it-yourself filers

Inflation-adjusted tax brackets for the 2017 tax year, based on the average inflation index for the 12-month period ending on August 31, 2016, show a slight uptick for the year ahead, according to Wolters Kluwer’s George Jones.

For many preparers, checklists have replaced the cumbersome organizers, which most clients never completed anyway. But as we draw closer to year’s end, many preparers should be thinking about the things they need to pay attention to before filing season begins.

The American Institute of CPAs is appealing a court decision that upheld the Internal Revenue Service’s voluntary program for tax preparer education and testing.

There’s probably no one “right” time for tax preparers to start a newsletter, but the end of summer might be an optimum time. Vacation memories are beginning to fade, and people are gearing up to get back into the real world of work, busy schedules and tax.

Even as you woke up from that three-day nap after April 18, you knew you had to make money the rest of 2016, too. Lucky you’re in a field where that’s getting easier.

Yes, it’s summer, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to forget about your clients, or ease up on your plans to attract new ones.

The IRS shares some advice on fixing a return (text version)

With the regulations that once kept financial advisors and other money-management professionals on the social-media sidelines a thing of the past, the floodgate of tweets, Snaps and Instagram posts should be wide open by now. But the response has actually been quite muted.

The IRS reports that it processed 134,387,120 returns from last season through May 26.

Give some people time and invariably they’ll want more.

The sun has set on Tax Day 2016. Another season older and what did you learn? And what will do differently next year?

The Internal Revenue Service has restored the Get Transcript online application that it took down last year, adding improved multi-factor authentication processes to safeguard the program from being exploited by identity thieves.

In my two previous columns, I wrote about CPAs who leave public accounting and go to work in private industry. Based upon the comments and emails I received, this is an involved topic and I would like to delve into it further.

Despite their collective sigh of relief at the end of tax season, the lull that afflicts the profession afterwards can be disquieting.

Congratulations, now that you’ve made it through the end of busy season and managed to put all of those long evenings in the office in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to get back to business. Now is a great time to revisit your firm’s strategic plan for 2016.

Now that it’s springtime and the birds are chirping, it’s important for your tax clients to consider education-related expenses when applying for federal financial aid.

Who would ever think that the most important part of a shoebox with a client’s tax information was the shoebox? Not me, and I lost a client because of it.

A company called MorphoTrust USA plans to use selfies next tax season to help taxpayers avoid the risk of losing their tax refunds to identity thieves.