Tax Season Keeps Getting Shorter

[Beersheba]

From January 1st to April 15th, right?

Only to those who don't know better. We can start with all our "Entities" now due March 15th instead of April 15th. Makes the March 15th deadline worse than April. If you have to extend, then everyone who would get a K-1 will have to be extended as well.

Very little actual filing can occur until January is over. So February 1st is first available after W-2s are issued. Also no 1099-Rs or 1098s until then either.

Then there are the brokerage statements - 1099-DIVs 1099-Bs, etc. They don't come by Jan 31st, and usually come sometime during the month of February., so the safest time to make an appointment is March 1st. The disgusting thing about this is the source of brokerage statements are some of the wealthiest financial firms in the world, and have the resources to do better.

Then there is the ever-increasing army of information statement providers who want to bail out of spending postage, so they send electronic statements. This means the customer does not have them anywhere except on their cellphone. God forbid they should print them out. "Ah, yes, I have a 1098-T right here on my phone and you can look at it!! All I have to do is scroll through hundreds and pages and find it!

...yes only to those who don't know better.

[Rapid Robert]

Starting with 2017 filing season, the due date for partnership returns was changed in order to alleviate workload compression. AICPA says it made things better. Since nothing has changed since then, the filing season is just as long now as it has been for the last 7 years. Why do you say it "keeps getting shorter"? Do you have any evidence for that claim?

"For the 2017 filing season and beyond, taxpayers and practitioners should start to see that they have timely and accurate information needed from flowthrough entities’ Schedules K-1. Taxpayers and practitioners also should have to deal with fewer estimates, extensions, and amended returns. The tax return preparation process should go smoother and more efficiently."

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/newsletters/2015/oct/new-tax-return-due-date-changes.html

"This means the customer does not have them anywhere except on their cellphone."

Even when I worked at H&R back in the aughts, it was not uncommon to just have the client log in at my workstation to download or print their 1099 and 1098 statements. Now that almost all my clients are remote only, it is a simple matter to tell them it is their job to get the documents to me, and so far no one has shipped their cellphone to me. You have to decide who is in charge of the tax prep process, you or the client.

[Beersheba]

Robert, virtually all of the exceptions you have to my statements are based on differences between the way you prepare taxes and the way I do.

[TaxGuyBill]

We can start with all our "Entities" now due March 15th instead of April 15th. Makes the March 15th deadline worse than April

Very little actual filing can occur until January is over.

In most cases, the "entities" can be prepared in January. For that matter, with SO many documents being available electronically, many W-2-only returns could be done in January. Or Schedule C-only returns. Just encourage those clients to come in mid-January.

[EvenKeelTax]

Hahaha. Gone are the days when IRS opens up e-file in early January. I don't even want to start doing taxes that early anyway! I'm in Maine so in my area we just got an extension until June 17th for everything due to two huge storms we got in December that caused substantial damage. It's the second time in a few years the deadline is extended (first one being COVID for everyone) so I'm not sure which is better. On one hand a short season frees me up for other endeavors in the spring, but on the other hand it is nice having my clients trickle in instead of hitting me all at once over 2.5 months.

I can't even remember the last year our filing deadline was actually April 15th here in Maine. We observe a relatively useless holiday called "Patriots Day" that always seems to fall around the April 15 deadline so that gives us extra time. Plus weekends, Emancipation Day in Washington, etc.