Small Firms and Enrolled Agents Suffer the Most Damage From Washington Shenanigans and Balky Software

By Rick Telberg, CPA Trendlines Research
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With Tax Season 2013 finally (gratefully) at an end, the latest soundings from the field show conditions continuing to deteriorate into the final hours, according to the CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer.

For the first time since the banking crash five years ago, more than 60% of tax professionals were reporting a “worse” year than the prior year.

Some 30% of professionals surveyed are now predicting a “much worse” year and 33% are predicting “somewhat worse,” representing a three-point rise from March and a stunning reversal from the year-ago April when 52% of practitioners were looking forward to “somewhat better” and “much better” results.

This year, only 7% of practitioners are predicting a “much better” year, relatively unchanged from last month and a sharp decline from the year-ago 21%. And another 16% are predicting a “somewhat better” year, down from the year-ago 31%.