Tax season

A home office is the work reality for many CPA consultants and tax preparers. It beckons with the promise of an easy commute, and the comfort of working in your pajamas. It provides the flexibility of working when you want to. It can also save thousands of dollars that would otherwise be spent on rent. What’s not to love?

Greatland, a provider of W-2 and 1099 products for business, is offering advice to help businesses and their tax preparers avoid penalties, improve compliance and know the important changes for year-end, particularly in light of the Affordable Care Act.

The Internal Revenue Service announced on Tuesday that it will delay the start of the 2014 tax filing season by as much as two weeks due to delays caused by the recent closure of the federal government.

It won’t be long before tax season gets underway again, and before the upcoming busy season fades from mind to join all previous busy seasons, I encourage you to reflect. Think about your clients because, after all, they’re the people who contribute significantly to making your busy season what it is, in all its glory and misery. My question for you is: which three clients are you going to fire?

The Return Preparer Office of the IRS has released details on the professional credentials of those who currently hold Preparer Tax Identification Numbers, or PTINs.

Check out the digital edition of the October 2013 issue of Accounting Today.

“Oh what I’d give to get a good night’s sleep.” We’ve heard that before, maybe even said it ourselves, especially during tax season. But tax preparer Joyce Linzy was prepared to spend money to make it happen.

New tools (and less late legislation) have tax software vendors hopeful for 2014

May I ask you a personal question? Do you feel like your job description is “last-minute issue tackler”? You are not alone.

Kat Morgan will check a “married” box on her federal tax return next year for the first time since her 2009 wedding, now that the Internal Revenue Service will recognize same-sex marriages no matter where couples live.

Busy season: say it to a room full of CPAs and you get a round of all-knowing nods in return.

JTH Holding Inc., the parent company of Liberty Tax Service, said it has received a letter from the Nasdaq Stock Market indicating it was not in compliance with Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements.

U.S. taxpayers filed 145.4 million individual income tax returns for tax year 2011, a 1.7 percent increase from 2010, according to newly released IRS statistics.

The Taxpayer Protection Program that the Internal Revenue Service implemented in an effort to curb the problem of identity theft-related tax fraud is improving the IRS’s efforts at detecting identity theft, but the case-processing controls need to be strengthened to reduce the burden on taxpayers victimized by identity theft, according to a new government report.

The unthinkable happened to me. My office was burglarized and a computer stolen containing all of my clients’ personal information! This is my cautionary tale to my colleagues—we have become targets in the IRS identity theft epidemic.

The Internal Revenue Service said in an email to tax professionals Friday that it would begin sending letters to enrolled agents in late July when their enrollment status is being inactivated or terminated because of their failure to renew.

Seventy-nine percent of New Jersey CPAs anticipate their clients will pay more taxes in 2014 than 2013, according to a new survey.

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance outsourced the responsibility of refunding money to a new contractor this year and many taxpayers who filed paper-based returns still have not received their refunds.

While the end of the busy season always brings a collective sigh of relief to staff and partners alike, the shift in seasonal demand can be a Catch-22.

Virtually all tax preparers were adversely affected by the late start to the 2013 filing season, with the added complications of late forms, late information from brokerage houses and, in some cases software glitches.