Level 12

Question

Apparently decreased to approximately 667,000

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
February 2, 2025
8 replies
31 views

In 2007, apparently there were an estimated 900,000 to 1,200,000 tax return preparers, therefore the average of this estimate is approximately 1,050,000. In 2025, apparently there are an estimated 667,000 tax return preparers. Therefore an apparent estimated decrease of 36.47%.

ProSeries Professional

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Just-Lisa-Now-

Intuit Community Champion

I think a big chunk bailed when the 1040 was redesigned in 2018, nothing more current than 2007 to compare to?

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥Lisa♥¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

PATAXAuthor

Level 12

@Just-Lisa-Now- Yea I do not think the "postcard return" was quite helpful.

IRonMaN

Level 15

I believe Jim picked up all of those clients from the 36.47% of preparers that exited stage left. As of 1/31 I believe he had 62.37% of those 36.47% returns done. 😲

Slava Ukraini!

PATAXAuthor

Level 12

@IRonMaN 😂😂😂

BobKamman

Level 15

I hadn't had my morning coffee yet so at first I read that as "deceased."

Which might be the case, anyway.

PATAXAuthor

Level 12

I noticed over the years, less and less people each year at tax seminars, so I think the number has been decreasing each year. I think some left when there were proposed non-credentialed tax preparer regulations.

BobKamman

Level 15

Part of the problem is that tax season has been compressed from 14 weeks to 8 weeks. When brokers don't issue 1099s until February 15 (often, corrected by March 15) there is very little work in January and only easy stuff in early February. For generations, IRS has indoctrinated people into meeting the April 15 deadline. Avoiding extensions is irrational, for many taxpayers, but old habits die hard.

Reduce the filing window by 40% and you reduce the income and profit by that much also. And then half the country has to worry about snowstorms while trying to "make hay while the sun shines." Watch your step, you have painted yourself into a corner.

The_AntiTax_Man

Level 7

@BobKamman The compression of the tax season has led to more extensions. Remember the first extension [August 15th] and the second extension [October 15th] morphed into now only one [October 15th] extension?

rbynaker

Level 13

It'll all be fine. AI is going to take over. Nobody needs tax accountants anymore. 🙂

Pick your poison. I know folks who retired when ACA was passed and added a bunch of tax forms (Add'l Medicare, NIIT, PTC). More folks retired when TCJA "simplified" everything . . . well, as long as you didn't have to deal with QBI. Then the forms were "simplified" to fit on a postcard (with 6 pages of brand new schedules 1-6 attached to said postcard). Now they've "simplified" things by eliminating half of those schedules, and making the remaining schedules two pages each.

I don't know what's coming next, but I'll probably be on the bus with 200,000 other retiring preparers.

Rick

R

rcooley25

Level 7

What I have earned over the years any time they say they are going to simplyfi things start saying your prayers because things always get worse.

IRonMaN

Level 15

"I noticed over the years, less and less people each year at tax seminars"

You go to those things in person? I haven't attended any CPE in person since COVID. That is the one positive thing that came out of COVID. The closest CPE we could attend was a little over an hour away, with most of it 3.5 hours away. We now save on travel time and travel costs by being able to do those things remotely.

The CPA profession hasn't done much to help the cause in providing bodies to prepare tax returns or perform audits. The brain trusts thought that nobody could possibly do this job with a mere four years of education. There was the big push from state societies to have their states add a year to education requirements. So somebody wants to sit in a college classroom for 5 years to have the pleasure of doing this job? So now, after the number of new accountants sprouting up is shrinking, they are rethinking that wonderful idea and trying to back track after the damage was done. In retrospect, I should have stuck with the profession that I wanted as a young kid - game warden. Although I think it would be tough for me to arrest folks for exceeding their legal bag limit of road runners.

Slava Ukraini!

T

TaxGuyBill

Level 15

@IRonMaN wrote:

The brain trusts thought that nobody could possibly do this job with a mere four years of education. There was the big push from state societies to have their states add a year to education requirements.

In my opinion, they should have SUBTRACTED a year rather than add a year.

A couple of years ago I was looking at the Accounting Program at a nearby university. I think it contained less than 2.5 years of accounting and semi-useful courses (computer classes, business, etc.). The other 2.5 years were electives and junk. Do I really need to learn about European history and take art-ceramics class to become a CPA?

abctax55

Level 15

@TaxGuyBill

MY *favorite* class in college when, working on my accounting degree was music appreciation. The instructor made us perform something for one test. I picked playing 'We three kings of Orient Are' on the piano- mainly because my cousin could teach it to me & he said (with my very small hands) it was the best song to try.

I typify the 'can't carry a tune in a bucket' person. I got a D on the test. To this day, I don't understand the connection between performing and appreciating.

HumanKind... Be Both

PATAXAuthor

Level 12

@rcooley25 please come back so the number can increase to 667,001. We miss you Brother Cooley.

R

rcooley25

Level 7

I cannot tell you how much I have missed chatting with all of you since retiring but I do not know how since I am not use Intuit tax programs now.

PATAXAuthor

Level 12

@rcooley25 Just save this email and do not delete it. Then all you have to do is open it up in your email, and hit the pro series tax discussion link. Or you can hit the name of the post link and then go to the top of the post and hit the pro series tax discussion link. if you want to start a post just hit the ask a question link.

The_AntiTax_Man

Level 7

@PATAX Could it be due to self-prep using Turbo tax?

I see the IRS FREE FILE got axed by Elon. He must be an Intuit investor?

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