Bookkeeper, Accountant & Tax Pro Season Watch

Why this is recommended

A QuickBooks price increase of 20 percent across a client base, an e-services outage the week before a deadline, a disaster relief extension that changes 50 clients' due dates, a state registration deadline, or a preparer penalty rule change are each worth the membership in a week of tax season.

What the Tab covers

Who it is for

The 1.2 million bookkeepers, tax preparers, enrolled agents and CPAs who run small practices, and the solo preparer who does 300 returns a season.

When it runs

IRS and software vendors publish on weekdays and the season runs on deadlines

Scope

IRS PTIN, AFSP, EA, e-file, EFIN and preparer rules and fees; Intuit ProConnect, Lacerte and ProSeries, Drake, UltraTax, CCH Axcess and ATX, TaxAct Pro and TaxSlayer Pro pricing and features; IRS e-services, TDS, IRIS and MeF outages; EA exam and CE rules; state preparer registration in California, Oregon, Maryland, New York and others; QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks, Wave and Zoho pricing; BOI and state annual report deadlines; federal and state deadline extensions and disaster relief; preparer penalties and enforcement; staffing data

Suggested task

The objective your Tab starts with. You can edit every line of it once the Tab is yours.

IRS PTIN, AFSP, e-file and EFIN rule and fee changes, tax software price and feature changes for professionals at Intuit, Drake, Thomson Reuters, Wolters Kluwer and TaxAct, IRS e-services and transcript system changes and outages, continuing education and EA exam changes, state preparer registration and licensing changes, bookkeeping software price and feature changes at QuickBooks, Xero and FreshBooks, BOI and state filing deadline changes that drive client work, IRS and state deadline extensions and disaster relief, preparer penalty and enforcement actions and staffing and seasonal hiring data, with the agency, vendor or deadline first.

Track the business of tax and bookkeeping practice in the United States. Report only confirmed, source-backed items from the last 7 days: IRS PTIN, AFSP, EA, e-file, EFIN and preparer rule and fee changes; price and feature changes at Intuit ProConnect, Lacerte and ProSeries, Drake, UltraTax, CCH Axcess and ATX, TaxAct Pro and TaxSlayer Pro; IRS e-services, transcript, IRIS and MeF system changes and outages over two hours; EA exam and continuing education rule changes; state preparer registration and licensing changes; price and feature changes at QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks, Wave and Zoho; beneficial ownership and state annual report deadline changes; federal and state deadline extensions and disaster relief by area; preparer penalty rule changes and enforcement actions; and tax season staffing and hiring data. Prefer the IRS, state revenue departments and boards, vendor pricing pages and release notes, FinCEN, NAEA, AICPA and established accounting reporting; ignore vendor marketing. Put the agency, vendor or deadline first in the title with the number or date. Use high severity for a system outage within 7 days of a deadline, a software price increase of 15 percent or more, a disaster extension affecting a metro, or a preparer rule change with a compliance date. Return no more than 6 findings. Push each as a finding with a title, a two-sentence summary, sections for what changed, who it affects, what to do, the date, and the source link. If nothing qualifies, push nothing and submit the run receipt.