Renew Now and Save

Not renewed your software for TY21?  Have you been waiting for the right time to renew with TaxAct Professional?  Renew today and you will receive your software at a discounted rate.  Ask your representative about the Client Exchange Special you can take advantage of. Simply call our sales team at 319-536-3571 to redeem this offer! We look forward to working alongside you again this tax season. Don’t miss out, renew today: https://www.taxact.com/professional/meet-your-sales-team ***Offer expires on January 31st, at 5:00 PM CST & includes an unlimited number of Client Xchange accou...
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Reminder: It’s Not Too Late to Get Ahead with TaxAct Professional

As first peak begins to wind down, you may find yourself wanting for a more streamlined and efficient way to serve your clients before second peak hits. The fact that most filers in the latter category aren’t expecting a refund plays a pivotal role in how smoothly and successfully your practice runs — not only as April 15 approaches, but right now. If you aren’t feeling as solidly prepared as you’d prefer, we’re here to help. TaxAct® Professional products are still available, ready to help boost your practice’s productivity and organization in meaningful, tangible ways all season long. If yo...
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Are You Marketing Your Services to the Self-Employed?

Global consulting firm McKinsey found that there are roughly 68 million freelancers in the US. Think about that for a second, the gig economy (Uber, Lyft, Doordash, .etc) has revolutionized freelancing for 1/5 of America and it’s only going to grow larger. The unfortunate part about statistics on freelancing is that the BLS (Bureau Of Labor & Statistics) is doing a fairly poor job at compiling them accurately – and it’s not entirely their fault. Why is that? It’s simple, yet complex. Not everyone that is self-employed is not employed traditionally. There are tens of millions of Am...
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Webinar: Earn Your Enrolled Agent (EA) Credentials This Year

Becoming an Enrolled Agent might seem like a huge undertaking, but with the right plan in place, you can you can get on track to ace the exam this year. Enrolled Agent (or EA) is a type of tax advisor who is a federally authorized tax practitioner empowered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The enrolled agent status is the highest credential awarded by the IRS and those who hold it are able to represent taxpayers before the IRS for tax issues including audits, collections & appeals. Join TaxAct and Surgent VP Sean Mullen for exclusive and comprehensive webinars on Thursday, Jul...
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Protection Plus: Cyber Liability Information

Cyber criminals are targeting tax professional systems to access taxpayer data. There is much talk addressing consumer concerns, but little is said about protecting the tax professional from the impact of a data breach. A study sponsored by IBM and conducted by the Ponemon Institute released in June 2016 found the average cost of a data breach is $221 per lost or stolen record. At this rate, a tax preparation business with 350 client records can expect to incur a cost of $77,350. (more…)
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Biz2Credit: Financial Tips Webinar for Accountants

This webinar features tips and advice specifically for tax professionals from Biz2Credit, small business funding experts in accounting and small business finance. Topics include best sources of capital, and growth strategies for tax preparers, CPAs, and their clients. The webinar features Tracy Kelleher, Vice President of Business Development at Biz2Credit.
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Protection Plus: General Audit Information

Who does the IRS audit? 1. Taxpayers with Suspicious Activity This can include taxpayers who have made mathematical errors on their returns, who claim an unusually high amount of charitable donations, who are self-employed and report too many losses or business expenses, who fail to include part of their income, or who round up a little too much and too cleanly. When filing a return, be exact with the numbers you have for your clients’ income, expenses, and losses to avoid suspicion. 2. Random Audits These audits are not based on any suspicious activity or specific part of a tax retu...
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BluePay: Expand Your Tax Preparation Business with a Virtual Terminal

Whether you prepare taxes in a brick-and-mortar storefront location, in your home, or on the road, you can easily hand-key credit, debit, or ACH payments using a virtual terminal. A virtual terminal allows you to securely process transactions without: A physical credit card terminal The need to swipe/insert your clients' cards (more…)
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Surgent: Residential Mortgage Interest & Co-Ownership

By Anthony P. Curatola, Ph.D Section 163(h) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) provides, in part, that no deduction shall be allowed for personal interest paid or accrued during the taxable year by a taxpayer other than a corporation (i.e., an individual taxpayer). Thus, individual taxpayers can’t deduct interest paid on their credit cards, auto loans, or personal loans, to name a few. But there are exceptions to the rule that make some interest deductible for an individual. Specifically, interest associated with a trade or business, investment interest, qualified residence interest, and ed...
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SurePayroll: Five Ways to Evaluate Your Tax Business after Filing Season

For many accountants and professional tax preparers, the end of filing season can bring a sigh of relief and a welcome slowdown in client work. Although the tax deadline can bring back some sense of work-life balance, successful tax preparers use the month of May and beyond to evaluate the filing season, their business and to start preparing for next year. (more…)
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Protection Plus: Add-On Presentation Strategies for the Tax Professional

When a client comes in to do their taxes with you, they are placing their trust in you. Consider this: when you go to doctors, you listen to what they tell you because they know much more about health and the medical field than you do. If your doctors tell you to get an x-ray or take a specific medicine, you trust them and follow their advice. Just as you trust your medical professionals, your clients trust you as their tax professional. When you advise them on a course of action, they listen. If you advise them to purchase Protection Plus or another add-on, they usually will. Don’t be s...
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