83: Making Sense of Tax Season in 2022

The pandemic has brought on many changes in the last few years, and these changes have impacted the tax season in 2022.

What challenges and updates should people be aware of this tax season?

On today's episode of the Taxgirl podcast, Kelly is joined by Amber Gray-Fenner to talk about challenges impacting taxpayers and tax professionals this filing season.

Amber is an Enrolled Agent and owner of Tax Therapy, LLC, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Amber considers herself a tax "general practitioner" who prepares returns for individuals and (really) small businesses and represents individuals before the IRS and, occasionally, the U.S. Tax Court (as a non-attorney practitioner admitted to the Tax Court bar). Amber is also a tax writer whose passion is translating "taxspeak" into English for taxpayers and tax practitioners. She writes to dispel myths with facts and to explain “the fine print” behind seemingly simple tax concepts. Amber is a contributing writer at Forbes.com covering individual tax issues and IRS developments, a contributing writer for ThinkOutsidetheTaxBox.com, and one of the authors of The Most Common Tax Mistakes Made by Small Businesses (Lily Tran, author/editor).

Listen to Kelly and Amber discuss this tax season’s challenges:

• What does Amber think are the challenges people will face this year regarding tax struggles or filing difficulties?
• Kelly and Amber discuss the ways that the IRS's slow and often inefficient processes may cause challenges for taxpayers and professionals this tax season.
• How would refund check delays impact the lives of people who rely on tax refunds? Would the IRS be to blame for these impacts?
• Does taxpayers' time to file their returns influence how soon they will receive their refunds? How can taxpayers find a balance between filing early to avoid risks like ID theft vs. waiting patiently to file a correct return?
• In what ways are taxpayers at risk of being taken advantage of?
• Amber and Kelly discuss how the IRS is under-resourced and how this could have long-term consequences to the tax process and the taxpayer's trust in the system.
• What can taxpayers and tax professionals do this season to make their lives easier? Amber discusses some of the options available to taxpayers to aid them in the filing process this season.
• How can taxpayers best prepare and organize their information when filing with a tax professional?
• In what ways can tax professionals be better at determining whether a relationship with a potential client would be a good fit? How should the price that tax professionals charge factor into this practice?

More about Kelly:

Kelly Phillips Erb created and hosts the Taxgirl podcast, your home for tax news, tax info, and tax policy. In each episode, she shares conversations about taxes, money, and the choices we make. Kelly is a tax attorney who works with taxpayers and tax practitioners like you every day. She helps folks out of tax jams, and hopefully, keeps others from getting into them.

You can find out more about Kelly here and you can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin.

To subscribe to the podcast (it’s free!) using Apple, Spotify, or your favorite listening app, click here.

Links:

Kelly’s Website – Taxgirl

Amber’s Website – Tax Therapy 505

Amber’s Twitter – @taxtherapist505

Amber's book - The Most Common Tax Mistakes Made by Small Businesses