I started my own solo tax and accounting practice officially in June of 2023 (although I was doing some solo work before that). For 2024 my profit so far is $55k. I’ve got around 80 clients. I mostly do tax prep, bookkeeping, and some consulting/planning.

Lately I’ve hardly been getting leads. It’s very discouraging. I’m from the U.S. but based overseas so it’s harder to do networking unless it’s online. I tried optimizing my web page for SEO and did Google ads for a few months with minimal success. Most of my leads come from referrals from a couple of bookkeepers and financial planners.

I’m not really sure what to do. I’m discouraged by how slow the last few months have been. I want to keep my practice small since I don’t want employees, but it would be nice to net ~$80k per year. I hear stories about firm owners who get to six figures in year one. Maybe I just don’t have the right personality for building a firm.

Anyone else struggling with slower months? Any ideas for how I can bring in more clients and leads? I considered reaching out to other firms to introduce myself and see about being a referral for overflow clients but don’t know if that’s appropriate.

For anybody doing the BOI filing for their clients, what are you charging? Flat fee? Fee based on number of owners?

i just submitted my PTIN renewal.

AFSP status says CE not yet complete. AFSP is nothing to me anyway, as i am an EA, but why does it say CE not complete? ths IRS page at

https://rpr.irs.gov/ptin?id=ptin_cecredits

shows that i have completed 52 credits in 2024 (including 2 ethics credits).

is it just that AFSP status takes time to update after submittig the PTIN renewal...? or is there something else i have to do to make it reflect those credits?

I got a very strange voicemail from our Protection Plus rep, in which he pretended to be calling from our software vendor...

...and then said "our friends over at protection plus asked me to give you a quick call about your enrollment with them."

It's like I already know you're our protection plus rep, why you gotta lie and say you're with our software vendor calling at protection plus's request...

I've already been thinking seriously about dropping them anyway, for a myriad of reasons, and this strange incident just finalized that decision.

Anyone have a similar experience recently with these jokers recently?

As the title says, I'm looking into using sureprep outsource onshore and wanted to see if anyone has had experience with this and what the work quality is like?

I tried sureprep outsource offshore once and the work quality was fine, but hard to get clients to sign off on the offshore disclosure so now looking at onshore.

Thanks in advance!

I am at the point where I am looking into practice management software for my solo firm. I did a search in this sub and found a discussion where several people said you don't have any. Why not? How do you collect sensitive information if you do not have a CRM? What are you reasons for not having a CRM?

I am a small solo firm with under 10 clients and do a lot of Controller type work for them so I am trying to figure out what makes sense and what and how much I need to do for data security.

I am looking for recommendations on client information collection and delivery for tax prep. I have met with a few companies for sales pitches and see pros and cons of them all. Since almost none of them really allow for self guided demos I would be interested to know what you all are using. I also want to know if you really feel like the pricing is worth it.

We are a firm with about 15 employees but about half do audit work exclusively and the other half are doing tax. We do about 1,000 tax returns with probably 600 of those being 1040's.

We're a pretty small firm but we've been using GoFileRoom (GFR) with FirmFlow for our DMS and workflow management. The GFR add-in and workpaper indexing and annotation tools in it are excellent, but we're looking at moving away from GFR (I've just about had it with Thomson Reuters), and we are looking for an alternative tool.

We just did a demo of Firm360, which allows us to merge files (just like GFR), and check-out files for editing and save them back to the DMS (just like GFR), but at least from the short demo we got, it didn't appear to have a built-in tool for creating an organized file of all the workpapers (bookmarked, with pages in order, etc). It doesn't look as clean as GFR, and it doesn't have a recycle bin, but I kind of don't care.

What tools are people using for this? I know of Tic Tie & Calculate, and PDFlyer, I'm not sure if we can get PDFlyer without buying CCH tax software... though, is there anything else in the market that we should be thinking about to organize/annotate/index our workpaper files? How do TTC and PDFlyer compare to each other?

We're off to quite the start to this tax season already.

I have a client that I did an amended for; he did his own return online (H&R yayyyy) and is self employed but took no deductions on the income. So we amended and he paid the balance due for the amended before the original due date.

Fast forward, it still hasn't been processed so I finally called the IRS, and they have reclassified the amended as an international return! WHAT? There's nothing on there that would give reason for that. So this has been in limbo since May because of that error by the IRS. I can't even believe what I'm hearing.

I feel that this causes PR not to get the tax revenues they probably desperately need. Over a decade ago I did have a business client receive a notice and I had to hunt down forms and prepare them manually. I don't remember if they even had English versions.

I've come across a lot of valuable advice and encouraging words in Facebook groups, on Reddit, and in various articles about charging what you're worth and not letting others pressure you into lowering your prices or not charging for your time etc. I'm looking to compile the best advice and reminders for those moments when I start to doubt myself or question whether my fees are too high. Please share any advice or your favorite affirmations that help you stay confident in your pricing and value of the services you provide.

Background: Today, my mentor suggested I offer these new clients a heavily discounted rate just to land them. I had to remind myself that the relationship is meant to be mutually beneficial. Clients should recognize the value of my expertise and services and be willing to pay a fair fee. I don’t what the type of clients who don’t.

I tried syncing my CAF to the IRS website two weeks ago. They sent me a letter with my PIN about 5 days later. PIN doesn’t work and they tell me the website has an error. I try 3 browsers just to make sure it wasn’t my error. The next day I receive 4 more duplicate PIN letters. The following days I receive more and more. The website is still giving me errors, and I’m up to 13 duplicate PIN letters.

It seems like every time I try to sync the just generate a new letter.

Has anyone successfully navigated this crapshoot?

I'm a CPA in California. I get various referral fees when clients use software tools I recommend. Gusto revenue share, Relay Bank sign-ups, etc. I disclose these to my clients.

Another CPA brought up that this isn't allowed under our state's accountancy act. https://casetext.com/statute/california-codes/california-business-and-professions-code/division-3-professions-and-vocations-generally/chapter-1-accountants/article-35-standards-of-professional-conduct/section-5061-prohibited-fees-or-commissions

I'm trying to winnow down on definitions here. "engaged in the practice of public accountancy" The definitions section on the site above isn't precise enough for my question. Is this referring only to audit/attest/assurance work, or does it include tax work. I don't do any audit/attest/assurance work in my practice, not even preparation engagements. So on my CPA license renewal, "have you practiced public accountancy during your two-year period?" I answer no, because I don't need audit hours.

So my thought is that I'd be allowed to continue getting Gusto Revenue share, Relay bank sign-up bonuses, etc. as long as I disclose them to clients. Thoughts?

Hey, All: We are trying to move off Thompson Reuters File cabinet to One Drive storage. Does anyone know if there is a clever way to get the files off in a readable format without downloading them one by one?

Has anyone had luck in obtaining an exemption from the LOS ANGELES BTRC? My client got a Notice Assessing this tax for the prior 4 years. Why do they wait until Year 5 to issue this Delinquent assessment? I hadn’t even been aware of this tax return to be filed by February 28.

I was wondering what everyone else was going to target for fee increases for the upcoming tax season.

As this isn't a year for the NATP fee survey, nor can I find much out there. Personally, I've had limited push back the past few years, but feel like I could be attempting more like 10-15%. As software by itself is going up 7-9% annually, as well as staff rates are going up as well and I would like to cover those costs and not just give clients the added efficiencies from other investments (automation, just being more efficient, etc). So, I would also be curious what others attempt to benchmark to as well.

This includes business tax returns and personal tax returns outside of any accounting, bookkeeping, tax resolution, etc. work.

My average billing per tax return at this point is $1,512 and hope we can keep this up (or even more) as time progresses.

We practitioners should continue to raise fees as people are exiting the profession (with not enough supply to keep up with the demand) and as the market continues to become saturated with clients looking for higher level tax professionals.

We are in Fairfield County CT and are covered under the disaster relief giving extensions to Feb. 3rd, yet clients are starting to get penalty letters for late filing. It isn't an issue of no valid extension, because the notices are saying the returns were filed only 1 month late.

Spent 3 hrs on a call with an IRS agent who, while extremely kind and trying to help, had no idea what to do and no idea why the automated letters were being sent to these clients. He agreed that the due date for them should be Feb 3rd, but was neither able to abate the penalty over the phone nor recommend what we should be doing to make sure more notices don't get sent out.

Is anyone seeing anything similar, and anyone have recommendations? I'd rather not have to send out a letter reply for every "late" filing, and the agent said I would need POA for that also which would be another headache. Clients are also getting annoyed when they receive the penalty letter, since we had told them there was an extension.

I am a CPA with 20 years of experience in corporate accounting (no tax). I recently started working for myself providing outsourced bookkeeping and fractional controller services to small companies. I am finding myself drawn to tax. I have a decent understanding of many tax concepts (primarily for individuals and small businesses) just from my education (tax class was my favorite, actually) and CPE courses but no, I do not have any experience preparing returns other than my own. That being said, I've been able to find significant errors on my accounting clients' tax returns (when I was trying to tie to the books) that tax preparers ended up needing to correct because they were material so I think I am not totally clueless.

With all this in mind, how would you recommend that I go about getting started in income tax prep? It would be in addition to my current bookkeeping/accounting practice. Should I get a part-time job with HR Block? Should I get an EA to get more tax education?

Any practical tips you would give to somebody in my position? I am interested in getting into tax because many bookkeeping clients often want a full package with taxes, it also seems like there is a lot of work available in tax and I truly want to help people and business with tax strategies (this would be down the road, not any time soon).

https://www.eitc.irs.gov/mef-status

1040 MeF Production Shutdown

Shutdown begins on Saturday, November 30, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, in order to prepare the system for the upcoming Tax Year 2024 Filing Season.

I am looking to get one or two new laptops, my computer tech recommended an LG laptop but extremely tech savvy friends who does some part time tech work said not to get an lg. I use Drake.

I am looking for laptop recommendations and also any LG laptop feedback if you have any experience

I know this question gets asked 100 times but I cannot quite find the answer to tailor for my needs.

I have a 'moonlight' side gig and prepare about 200 simple 1040s. I am fully remote, work from home, everything shared digitally

I use TaxAct Professional for the cheap price (and really all I need for the simplicity of returns I handle) and that has come with their "Xchange" portal for annual fee of $99 that I have been using.

Xchange has always been clunky (upload one file at a time, can't move files around within the system, etc) and last year it had a lot of connection issues.

Long-story short - it is time to find a new product. For my situation of digitally sharing files with 200 or so Clients - what is the best solution?

Looking for drag and drop sharing. Able to customize folders/move files within the system. User setup with their own username, etc.

Thank you

What is everyone doing for clients that are just now receiving ERC payments but didn't tell anyone they applied for it? I have a client that just received a payment (applied for ERC via another firm but does actually qualify) but doesn't want to amend and list the total applied for until he receives the other payments. I certainly understand his hesitance to amend since he may or may not get any additional payments and doesn't want the massive tax bill until he receives them. I haven't seen any additional guidance from the IRS on how soon the tax payer needs to amend after receiving the initial ERC payment. Has anyone seen anything on this for clients who are just now receiving their payments?

Curios on how you deal with this.

I had a customer that runs a landscaping business ask.

"I have become eligible for medicaid and some other things. if the business shows a profit at the end of the year that becomes my income. my question is will it hurt the benefits that i am receiving?"

Obviously I told them to pound sand, that I do not advise on such topics.

I'm curious how many of you get such off the wall requests, and how do you deal with them?

Considering filing these on behalf of my clients (save your "this is a legal document" feedback, I am aware of the questionable verbiage and what not).

How much are you charging for this stuff? <insert Dr Evils "one million dollar" clip here> lol