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2012 Annual Survey of New York State Tax Professionals
New York State tax professionals who responded to the 2012 annual survey continue to report utilizing the most popular tax software products, with some additional products from prior years. Overall ratings for tax compliance products were down slightly from 2011. Ratings for tax research resources remained close to those in the 201 1 survey, reflecting a mix of increases and decreases, as well as much closer overall ratings man last year. The authors express their appreciation to New York State CPAs for their willingness to contribute to this annual study.
Trends
Although 201 1 was expected to be fairly quiet on the tax legislation front, tax professionals still faced their share of challenges for the 2012 filing season. The final rules for Foreign Bank Accounting Reporting (FBAR) were issued in 2011, along with extensions for filing deadlines. The three-year delay for broker information reporting of customers' adjusted basis in securities ended with securities purchased in years beginning in 201 1, creating additional information for tax professionals to reconcile to their clients' records. In addition, the new capital gain and loss reporting rules brought with them both complexity and tax software issues.
Beginning in January 2012, tax preparers who filed more than 10 tax returns were required to use electronic riling (e-filing), which created problems for some of the smallest firms responding to mis survey. One survey participant reported having to change software packages in order to e-file, raising the small firm's software cost by more man $650. Another respondent commented that the firm's software expense increased by 50% in both 201 1 and 2012 in order to meet e-filing requirements.
The IRS finalized initiatives on tax preparer oversight, including registration and competency testing for non-CPAs. One respondent expressed concerns about the registration costs for very small firms. Preparer Taxpayer Identification Numbers (???) are now required for all tax preparers, including CPAs, but a slow start in the application process did not appear to create many concerns for survey participants.
The Survey
The 2012 survey utilized an online questionnaire format, which allowed a broad range of respondents to participate. It included tax software ratings and familiar questions from previous years, as well as new questions regarding...