As a tax practitioner, you encounter a multitude of challenges and responsibilities in your line of work. You must manage a smooth and efficient tax compliance workflow each tax filing season and complete tax season deliverables (returns, estimates, planning) in a compressed timeframe.
With all the demands thrust upon tax practitioners, including keeping up with legislative and regulatory developments, protecting client data privacy, and managing your tax practice, opportunities to find a community to lean on as a resource are invaluable.
Tax Section membership offers a community that provides knowledge, guidance, and support, enabling you to meet daily demands and foster professional growth throughout the busy season and all year round.
Through Tax Section membership, you can connect with the tax community and grow professionally through volunteering and networking. Daniel Moore, CPA, Owner, D.T. Moore & Company, LLC, emphasized the value of taking the time to get to know the Tax Section team. He described them as a dedicated group of people, including a large team of volunteers who sit behind all the people who work at the AICPA, and who are all experts in their respective fields. Moore highlighted that these experts are actively addressing common challenges in tax practice and working to create valuable resources for Tax Section members.
Navigating tax season
Managing a smooth and efficient tax compliance workflow during tax filing season can be a daunting task.
The Annual Tax Compliance Kit, a resource provided by the Tax Section, acts as a roadmap for tax practitioners. The kit includes engagement letters, client organizers, and tax return checklists, streamlining operations and ensuring efficiency year after year.
Moore and his team have seen success from using the Annual Tax Compliance Kit and said, “It is an absolutely great starting off point for me to develop a product that really makes sense for my employees and staff, and so I look to that every year just to get that knowledge base.”
Tax Section member Jackie Meyer, CEO TaxPlanIQ and Concierge CPA, said, “If they're doing compliance work, it’s going to streamline their operations quite a bit and make sure that they're efficient every year with various workflows.”
Keeping up with tax laws
The Tax Section has its finger on the pulse of the tax environment, advocating on legislative matters and continually monitoring current and emerging issues.
As a Tax Section member, you gain access to a comprehensive tax resource library that enables you to stay up to date on the latest tax topics, issues, and concerns.
Resources include:
Beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting resource center
Employee retention credit resource library
State and Local Tax Roadmap and Resource Center
Digital assets and virtual currency tax guidance and resources
The Tax Adviser magazine and a weekly newsletter provide in-depth coverage of tax matters, keeping you informed.
According to Chris Wittich, MBT, CPA, Partner at Boyum Barenscheer PLLP, his firm has found significant benefits in leveraging the resources offered by the Tax Section. “I think for us as a firm, it was a big inflection point. It showed us what was possible when we really stayed current, and we made it a priority to be super current and on the cutting edge of what's happening. Staying aware of the resources, or just the information and the updates coming out, I think, led to the successful implementation of that stuff,” he said.
Ensuring data privacy and cybersecurity
Protecting client data and managing a firm’s cybersecurity policies is a paramount priority for your firm and clients.
Tax professionals must adhere to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the FTC Safeguards Rule and are required to establish security measures to safeguard client information.
Resources provided by the Tax Section offer guidance on data security and outline the professional responsibilities in data security for tax professionals.
To address and mitigate cybersecurity concerns or exposure, the Tax Section provides members with a Tax Identity Theft Toolkit and best practices for data security and cybersecurity incident mitigation
Stay abreast of IRS guidance
Keeping up with IRS correspondence, guidance, and updates can be overwhelming.
The Tax Section provides a range of resources — covering topics such as disaster relief, notices, collection, and penalty abatement — to help members grapple with IRS processes and developments.
Add value to your practice
The Tax Section actively supports CPAs to enhance their professional growth as well as their tax services.
An important part of growing as a tax practitioner is enriching your client relationships by integrating tax and financial planning into your body of work. The Tax Section encourages its members to keep evolving and one of those ways is to look at building a tax and financial planning advisory service.
CPAs strive to manage a profitable and efficient tax practice and the Tax Section encourages members to build resilient tax services. The Reimagining Your Tax Practice webcast series addresses pressing issues such as how to meet client demands effectively, optimizing workflows, addressing staffing hurdles, and staying current with evolving technology.
Another component of growth and development for our members is to reinforce continuous professional learning. The Tax Section offers year-round complimentary continuing professional education (CPE) credits.
Meyer says that anytime she has an issue, she looks toward the CPE that the Tax Section offers for guidance. Wittich appreciates the news and updates that the Tax Practice Quarterly webcasts provide.
The webcasts, regular news, and updates ensure that you stay informed about the latest developments in the field. Wittich finds these resources particularly valuable and said, “I really liked the Tax Practice Quarterly Webinars … the resources around ERC … just the news and updates making sure that I'm aware of what's going on.”
Tax Section membership offers a wealth of resources and a supportive community to help you tackle everyday challenges, stay current with tax laws, protect client and business data, and enhance client services.
Grow your professional knowledge and embrace the resources as essential tools in your professional toolkit. Join the Tax Section community.