For certified public accountants, tax season is going on forever.
In any other year, they would set their internal clocks to a mid-February-to-April-15 sprint and then take a breather.
That’s out the window this year. With a new tax filing deadline due to the COVID-19 pandemic, accountants and their clients — at least, those who were still getting things together for the old deadline — are feeling their way through a new reality.
“Many people had already put in the time by the time things went wonky,” said Mary K. Silver, a licensed CPA for about 30 years. “For the most part, [much tax season work] was done and then this came and it did throw everybody off. It was a lot of time figuring out what the rules were.”
The IRS on March 21 and subsequently the state of New Mexico pushed back the traditional April 15 tax filing deadline to July 15.
“I didn’t get to go to Kauai [on] May 5,” said Ann MacKinnon, a licensed CPA since 1991. “We’re used to working really hard and then have a break in May, June and at least to the Fourth of July. Once you get to August it gets going again. This year is Feb. 15 to the end of the year.”
Accountants say they’ve suddenly had a variety of changes thrust at them. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act added a new dimension to tax preparation during prime tax season with the Paycheck Protection Program, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and numerous other provisions.
“We have PPP questions, unemployment questions, all that,” MacKinnon said. “I talk to other accountants. This is not fun. It’s been confusing for a lot of people. Everything from the constant change in the laws, which we will see more. Unemployment is confusing, the PPP loan is totally confusing.”
Burgmaier & Associates co-owner Eric Burgmaier has taken to Zoom on a daily basis to keep clients in the dental field up to date on the latest changes in tax and employment laws, which can change on a daily basis. The firm has as many as many as 85 dentists tune in, he said.
“It became a community,” Eric Burgmaier said.
The changes come as the industry as a whole is changing, local accountants say.
Small accounting firms are hanging on in Santa Fe, even with many people doing their own taxes with TurboTax and also as national firms H&R Block, Liberty Tax Service and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service are firmly in place. But the larger entities are beginning to nibble away at smaller firms.
“I get letters three times a week. H&R Block: ‘We want to buy your business,’ ” MacKinnon said. “I would retire if someone would come in and take care of my clients at the same level I do.”
Silver said she notices the same thing.
“You have some people acquired by bigger firms,” Silver said. “I have a few [new] clients sneak in whose accountant was acquired by a bigger firm.”
But Silver also said she believes small accounting firms are here to stay — maybe.
“I think we’re holding on,” Silver said. “My clients seem to want this situation. I feel if people are offered the service, it will keep going on.”
Burgmaier said the changes in the industry are requiring smaller accounting firms to concentrate on niche clients. That’s why his company, which he co-owns with his wife, Cheryl, is concentrating on dental practices, which he notes are going through some of the changes seen in accounting.
“Absolutely, small firms will continue to exist,” Eric Burgmaier said. “Those that will survive and thrive will be those that niche down to be a unique service provider. We know what dentists are going through.”
MacKinnon notes that accountants who got started in the 1970s or ’80s could achieve the American dream of the opportunity for success and upward mobility and not have second thoughts about buying a home and raising a family. Enough of that generation are still slogging through tax season preparing returns.
“There was a large number of CPAs that are in retirement age,” MacKinnon said. “Now, if you’re 40 years old making $80,000 a year, you can’t afford to buy a house and can’t afford to send kids to school. We don’t have young accountants coming in.”
Silver said many longtime accountants have a fierce loyalty to stick with their longtime clients.
“We are all in the 60s and getting old,” Silver said. “A lot of my contemporaries are kind of stuck. We have worked with our clients for many years, and we can’t just walk away.”
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June 29, 2020 at 10:00AM
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Small accounting firms still plow through tax season - Santa Fe New Mexican
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