As we get into the final stretch of filing season, it is fulfilling the predictions made at the start.
“This filing season should be a doozy,” predicted Tom Wheelwright, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based CPA. “Between the Affordable Care Act, the new Section 263(a) repair regulations and the inability of the IRS to answer the calls that come in, we are in for one challenging busy tax season.”
Wheelwright, a contributor both to Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad seminars and Donald Trump’s Wealth Builder’s Program, found some solace in an Internal Revenue Service revenue procedure. “Thank goodness for Rev. Proc. 2015-20 that lets small business off the hook from filing 3115s this year to change accounting methods under the repair regs,” he said. “These challenges should give all tax preparers ammunition for suggesting to their clients that they extend their tax returns, evening out busy season for the preparer.”
“It’s been a challenging season, with the ACA, and the tangible property regs,” he said. “We knew they were out there and it would be a challenge, and it has.”
Padgett Business Services president Roger Harris referred to recent filing season statistics released by the Internal Revenue Service that show that the numbers are down over last year for taxpayers using professional preparers. According to the IRS cumulative statistics to March 7, 2015, e-filing using professionals was down by 4 percent from last year, while e-filing by self-preparers was up by 5.6 percent.
“I find it hard to believe that more taxpayers believe they can file their own tax return this season,” he said. “It’s more likely that the more complicated returns that require preparers are lagging behind, and they will catch up by the end of the season. They’ll come in later because of the amount of time needed to deal with each individual taxpayer.”
“People seem to be coming in later this year than they did in previous years,” agreed Cathy Mueller, director of operations of Richmond, Va.-based Peoples Income Tax. “Probably the more complicated returns are lagging because people don’t know what to do with the ACA form. Many of those that received letters about their Form 1095-As don’t know what to do, and if they think they may owe money, they have a tendency to wait until the last minute. And then there’s the theory that if Easter is late, people will file late.”
Some taxpayers have to pay part of their premium tax credit back, Mueller observed. “They’re surprised that they have to pay more than $95, which is what the news reports said, but it’s actually $95 or 1 percent of income, so it could be significantly more than the $95 amount,” she said. “When some of the people estimated what they thought their 2014 income would be, they based it on their 2012 income. When they estimated their income they used W-2 income, not realizing that when they went to the marketplace it’s not pretax, so they estimated their income too low.”
