"The Worst Tax Season Ever"

A bounce from the bad feelings: ecstasy when it's over.

It's been said that CPA's like our complicated tax system just fine because the system allows them to bring in more revenue. Why is it, then, that many have left or are leaving the tax preparation business? A sampling of comments from the "worst tax season" ever:

easy or quick returns are being done by the taxpayer online.....complicated returns, while expensive to the client, usually work out to a worse hourly rate for the accountant.

The rules don’t get finalized until late in the year. That causes the information to come out later every year. And the financial institutions are issuing 2 and 3 amended reports after the originals are issued. As recently as 5 years ago, I used to do 2/3 of my returns in February. Now the last 2 years I do 2/3 after March 15.

New Mexico Taxation and Revenue and the Department of Workforce Solutions decided to mandate all businesses e-file unemployment, state workers comp fee and witholding for the period ending 12/31/12. The kicker was, the system had never been tested and still doesn’t work. I am still struggling with filing P/R tax reports and penalties assessed because New Mexico can’t get a system that works. More returns on extension than ever before and no end in sight!

Absolutely the worst – a good deal due to Congress late changes and updates requred by IRS and software vendors. But for me mainly due to major software problems with [.....] unrelated to the late updates.

The regulatory state insists that the governed meet all the deadlines that it imposes though it is late holding up its end of the bargain. It does not allow the governed to deviate from the proliferating rules that it refuses to impose on itself. With experienced tax practitioners departing the business, non-expert taxpayers who need outside help have fewer resources to call on and are more likely to make mistakes or, worse, don't bother to comply at all.

And so it goes in the 21st-century land of the free. © 2013 Stephen Yuen