No matter how you feel things went for you during Tax Season 2009, one thing is certain:  It's now officially over.  Whether you spend the next week catching up around the house, sending bills to clients, or vacationing somewhere nice and tropical, tax season 2009 is one for the record books. With new client disclosure requirements for outsourced tax returns taking effect for the 2009 tax season, many firms reduced the number of returns sent offshore, causing staffing headaches early in 2009.   Other firms implemented new technologies such as scan and organize (or scan, organize, and populate) applications to better organize the source documents for personal income tax returns before those documents are given to the preparer.  Finally, as happens every year, Mother Nature had some surprises in place for some CPA's and firms, bringing unexpected challenges during the busiest time of the year.

Sales and Use taxes will become more important as the states look for new revenue in economic tough times. If you are using a software product to calculate sales tax, your risk is far lower. Some of the key products that do sales tax calculations are: Avalara AvaTax, CCH Sales Tax and SpeedTax. These products can be used with products from the low end market such as QuickBooks through the mid-market accounting software products. There are high end vendors such as Versatax and Sabrix and other vendors in this space as well. Most of these vendors either have, or will introduce, a Use Tax product this year.

Technology Tools and Strategies for The Progressive Accountant
By Brian Tankersley