Stalking the Accountant

A new tax guide arrived late last week: The Complete Analysis of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It’s what I consider light reading on a Sunday afternoon.

Tax season is over, but tax planning is more important than ever with the new tax laws and changes. Consulting and planning with clients started May 1st and continues strong. I’m booked out until mid-July. If you own a business or investment properties you need to consider consulting with a tax professional to take full advantage of the new Qualified Business Income deduction.

One problem from earlier in the year has probably corrected itself. Withholding tables were adjusted in early February to account for the elimination of exemptions and the new tax brackets. The new tax tables overcompensated by under withholding. This meant people would pay less tax while getting a smaller refund or even owing! It was a timing issue of when you would actually pay your tax liability.

As regular readers will attest, I’m getting punchy at this point of tax season. Don’t worry. The insanity will pass (maybe).

This is the point where very difficult and unique tax returns show up on my desk. To clients: I’m making headway. Slower than the early part of tax season, but still peeling off work at a good clip. I still need to focus on quality over speed and some of these issues just take time.

I’ll be sleeping Saturday and back to the office Sunday for uninterrupted time.

Thursday this week was the due date for calendar year S corporations and partnerships. We are in the heart of tax season and your favorite accountant is feeling the strain. Stress is okay as workflow is moving reasonably well with a few notable exceptions I intend to rectify. The April 17th deadline looms.

The dog days of tax season are here. I’m dead tired and not as caught up as I was a week ago. Missing documents and research put me in a minor bind. Still looking good, but for the record, I took a short nap at my desk Friday. I was cooked. I’m off Saturday, but working Sunday to prepare for a phone meeting with Mr. Money Mustache. The quiet, empty office is conducive to massive productivity. You’d be surprised what no interruptions can do to a guy’s efficiency.

The biggest issue surrounding Camp Accountant is time. I’m enjoying the best tax season in years. The office is running smooth. Virtually all tax returns are out in a week or less. If your return has been in my office longer than a week we either are waiting for more documents or I’m researching an issue to maximize tax benefits. Even still, the pain of burnout lingers.

Longer hours and hyper-productivity take a toll. The tax law changes this past year are so significant I will spend most of my time this summer with clients and blog readers hammering out the best approach to realizing the maximum benefits from the changes.

With limited personal time available I am unable to run the whole Camp Accountant show myself. I am committed to attending (it was Pete’s first question) and presenting several topics. I will also attempt to get IRS approval for CPE for enrolled agents and CPAs.

It was an exciting week in the Wealthy Accountant’s world. Facebook decided they didn’t want me to use the name Keith Taxguy. Now if I were a Russian meddling in the election I would’ve had no problems at all. It all ended well (so far).

New policies instituted in the office this year are paying off. For the first time since I showed up in the blogosphere people are surprised how fast I’m getting work done. After tax season I’ll spill the beans on my experience so other tax firms can experiment with the same tools. It should help other business owners and those with a side gig formulate ideas to increase their efficiency. This means less work and more profit. Isn’t the modern world awesome!

This week’s Stalking the Accountant edition is special. We had another drawing for cash prizes here at The Wealthy Accountant and it ended up a humbling experience where dozens of people will benefit far more than the minor investment of cash would indicate.

The drawing pulled names from subscribers who opened their email of the latest blog posts. The winners of the $50 prize are:

It’s been an exciting week in the accounting world. The first full week of the traditional tax season is in the books with nine more left to go. As far as I can tell there have been no casualties.

Your favorite accountant is happy to report this is the smoothest tax season in years in his office. Three or four years ago I met Mr. Money Mustache and he put me on the map (Thank you, Pete!) it created a deluge of demand I was ill prepared to handle. The problem was I had no idea what I was getting into. Those problems seem to be fully resolved.