Building a Better Busy Season

How Not To Repeat the Sins of the Past

Speaker Bio – Jason Deshayes

• Vice President – Butler and Company CPAs, PC

• Serving clients since 2003, providing advice to individuals and closely-held businesses, with a focus on professional services, medical and veterinary practices, individual taxation and business start-ups.

• Honored in 2011 as one of New Mexico’s“40 Under Forty” by NM Business Weekly

• PCPS Executive Committee – 2012 – 2014

• 2010 AICPA Leadership Academy Graduate

• Was a Seattle Seahawks fan WAY before they won (and lost) the Super Bowl@taxguyjase

How did your busy season go?

Check the boxes… ACA Individual Responsibility Penalty Missing Forms 1025-A Cap/Repair Regs Identity theft Corrected and late 1099s Late K-1s Phone calls from fake IRS collections people Clients and their info coming in later More and more tax season compression Bad weather

If you checked 7 or more, you are not alone!

Some ways to soothe the pain and avoid it from happening again

Set the Tone

• Staff– Establish a timeline of known tax seasons

projects (year-end close, 1099s, payroll reports)

– Tax season kickoff meeting(s)– Make sure new staff have a good “vibe” of

the office– If you did a debrief from last year, follow up

with what came out of that meeting

Set the Tone

• Clients– Send a letter with a timeline in their organizers

or in late fall– Create an extension deadline…but stick to it!– Have the bill ready with the return

• And if you are really cutting edge, give it to them when they show up!

– Communicate ahead of time if you know of IRS delays or tax law situations that may negatively impact your clients’ taxes

Coping with Compression

• Tax advantage of year-end planning– Have your clients’ books 98% “complete” in

December– Know what your client’s situation looks like

with a tax plan – no surprises when you do the return!

– Easy extension because you’ll know what is due

Coping with Compression

• Clients you handle monthly accounting– No reason these can’t be done quickly on the front

end– Even if there are adjustments (like profit sharing

contributions, etc…), it can be 99% done

• Extensions– Many clients think extending is an audit flag– Communicate ahead of time what an extension is

and what it actually means to them

Be Proactive

• IRS Form 2848 – Power of Attorney– Have each client sign one along with their e-file paperwork– Have it apply for 3 years in the future and 3 years in the

past– You will be completely in the loop with your clients and

proactively respond to IRS “stuff”– Helps with transcripts for extended returns, identity theft and

clients who may forget what estimates they made• Pre-Scheduling Tax Appointments

– Figure out what clients like to be on the calendar and schedule them in advance (call or e-mail in January and include in tax organizers)

Document and Review Your Processes

• Uniformity is important– All staff should understand the importance of processes– Review the processes over a meeting in January

• Documentation in case of emergency– Loss of staff due to death, disability or departing your firm

• Documentation resolves conflicts– Staff can at time differ in work product quality– Different administrators process work differently– Peer reviewers like to see workpaper uniformity– Having good documentation avoids these becoming issues within

your practice• Cut down on inefficient training time for new staff

Be In Your Happy Place

• “Happy Staff, Happy Busy Season”– Stock up the office fridge with healthy snacks, caffeine, waters, etc…– Provide a three day weekend (Saturday – Monday or Friday –

Sunday)– Order out food for lunch or breakfasts (all weekends/evenings)– Chair massages

• Regular weekly staff meetings– Can be short and sweet– Keeps staff on alert of upcoming work and client needs– Keeps abreast of status of outstanding projects

• Post Tax Season Debrief meeting– Easy to forget, but really important to understand areas of

improvement – need to get feedback from everyone

Thanks!

Contact me if you have any questions!

Jason Deshayes, CPA, CGMAJason@butlercpa.com

505-821-0893@taxguyjase

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