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I found auditing very boring too so opted out from going the CPA route. After a couple of staff accounting jobs at private business's I landed a position as an accounting manager with the 3rd largest vegetation management company in the country. They also owned a Canadian company and I found the international component and consolidation work very interesting. They even paid for me to get my CMA with a nice raise when I passed.

I too have many long time clients, many retired, that I charge according to their income, with a $125 minimum . Several of the smaller preparers in my area retired last year and two of the larger firms raised their minimum to $600. I was getting many calls from prospective new clients and decided that the minimum for any new clients was going to be $195. Many balked at the fee at first, but then called back when they discovered they couldn't find anyone to do them for less. I don't really need new clients so I'm raising the minimum to $225 this year to make the extra work worth it

Accounting is my first love. I think I'm an accountant by education, profession and nature. I think I was born an accountant. But I don't do much accounting anymore. Tax prep seems little to do with accounting. Some maybe for business clients. I once heard it said that any endeavor needs four things: vision, planning, engineering and accounting. I think that's true. Accounting gets short shrift. I tell people I'm an old school accountant stuck in fourth grade arithmetic.

If I could wave a wand and go back 40 years, I would be charging a flat rate for my payroll software, and a separate fee by state, for the states with WH. (See the thread on the upcoming AL change. I will likely be spending many hours on a small percentage of customers this fall.) I may actually implement something along this in a few years, keeping the fee the same for the no hassle (no state WH states) and only the next increase for the rest of the states. Have to balance it though, as more prices means more complication, and zero chance of automated orders, so never mind .

Hmm, Form 1023 is the application for tax-exempt status.

"Unlike Form 8938, the FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is not filed with the IRS. It must be filed directly with the office of Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, separate from the IRS.Sep 28, 2022"

I have the same question. Wording proves written by someone who never handled a payroll. I suspect on all wages after 40 hours. Even with that, the “benefit” to the employee still maxes as 5% of the exempted amount. If one believes rules come from someone willing to pay for the change, it is likely from employers claiming this will help them keep employees. The pre report for 2023 seems to be data collecting to see if ot is more or less in 2024. The sunset half way through 2025 smells extra fishy. Payroll folks who make money on complication win. Employers lose (explaining this one to employees). Tax preparers neutral, maybe revenue increase, maybe lost clients. Me? Probably lose. Cannot charge more for this. Likely lose some clients to payroll processors. Certainly a fair chunk of hours programming and later on, answering questions.

I consider myself a Management Accountant. I love putting processes and procedures into place so the owners and management get their KPIs reported timely and accurately so they can be acted upon before there no chance to change the operational outcome. The GAAP and Tax Reporting are important, but profits and cash flow rule the business world. Tom Longview, TX

This is from the FAQs at IRS.com, so you'll want to dig deeper to an authoritative source: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plans-faqs-regarding-seps#contributions When must I deposit the contributions into the SEP-IRAs? You must deposit contributions for a year by the due date (including extensions) for filing your federal income tax return for the year. If you obtain an extension for filing your tax return, you have until the end of that extension period to deposit the contribution, regardless of when you actually file the return.

I agree, the most enjoyable part of my work is the monthly small business accounting tasks, second is payroll. For me tax preparation is a necessary evil, which probably explains why I don't do any estate and trust related work.