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Taking Care of Business: How to Prepare for TY22 During a Pandemic Part I

Published: November 2, 2020
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By Dawn Brolin

TY22 is going to be the first one (and hopefully the last) that will likely start and end with Covid-19. Unlike the last tax year where we didn’t have COVID-19 until the tail end of the return preparation period, going into this tax season, we know it is here and that the world has shifted because of it.

From my perspective, it’s time for all firms to adapt to the new reality that we are all facing (if they haven’t already). Some examples of how we can—and should—choose to be prepared for this tax season:

  • Consider how you are going to address the fact that clients are not going to want to make in-person appointments to see you or to want to handle any paper documents.
  • As such, your business needs a different way of serving them and working, which means in the cloud. If you aren’t there already, you have a window of opportunity now before the busy season to make it happen.
  • The importance of being prepared to learn during every tax season and to look for opportunities to improve cannot be overstated. Look at how you can better the client experience, increase efficiency, create workflow improvement, incorporate new solutions, add staff training, and enhance security, etc.
  • Look for help and advice from fellow practitioners who are already doing the things that you want to do. Start with one thing and build on your success—I have put together this Bulletproof Tech Stack that you can take and use to start creating a solid workflow with vetted cloud-based solutions for tax season.

Now that the tax extension deadline is beyond us, you have some time to prepare for a mini-test of your business continuity plan by ensuring that you have all of the tools in place to work with your clients remotely and any team members, too. Don’t wait until tax season to make sure everything is ready and working as it should be.

It’s really important to look at Covid-19 as a catalyst for ensuring that we take appropriate action to keep our firms strong. This is a shift that has been coming for a long time when it comes to getting our tax practices in the cloud. For those of us who haven’t done so already, life demands that we change. In Part 2 of this mini-series, we’ll look at the specific business continuity steps you can take to prepare for this tax season.