Drake Tax Professionals Faring Well In 2014

 Tax preparers using Drake’s software appear to be doing better than the industry in general this tax season, increasing or maintaining the volume and profitability of their practices while the industry in general declined in volume by 1.3 percent. 

The Internal Revenue Service last week released its late-March data book, which documents the decline in the number of professionally-prepared returns and an increase in self-preparation. 

The IRS numbers stand in stark contrast to our own mid-season survey, of 1,900 tax preparers on how well they are doing this year.  That information has been captured in an infographic that provides an easy reference to the numbers, but here are some of the highlights: 

• Those who responded to the survey indicate that they have lost some business to self-preparers, 52 percent report a better tax year than last year, with higher volumes of returns and higher profitability.
• Tax preparers have had to spend less time than they anticipated in helping their customers sort out the Affordable Care Act.
• Only a small number of Drake professionals has been audited by the IRS, and the experience yielded a 64 percent pass rate. 

See the infographic for details.