The Income Tax School partnered with Accounting Today recently to hold a Pre-Tax Season Update webinar for tax preparers looking to ready themselves for the end of the year and the upcoming season. In case you missed it, here are our presentation slides as well as some notes from the presentation.
For the upcoming tax season, it is going to be important that you and your preparers have secured a Record of Completion so that you are on the IRS list of qualified preparers. This list will be marketed to taxpayers nationally so you will want to make sure you are on it.
Security is also going to be crucial in the upcoming season as more and more tax fraud scams emerge. It is going to be important that your firm take proper identity theft precautions and follow standard procedures for collecting, filing, and storing taxpayer data. You should also make sure you are up to date on new IRS regulations (see slides).
The Affordable Care Act will also be something you should be prepared to discuss with clients as there are new required forms and increased penalties for not having insurance.
Be prepared for a repeat of last year as IRS budget cuts could delay IRS support and event the start to the filing season.