Tax E-Filing Seminar Shows Solutions

By Jeffery S. Randles, Northeast Chapter Tax Committee Chairman 

Over 50 people attended the three-hour Tax E-Filing Seminar at Normanside Country Club on Thursday, Aug. 7.
Attendees got to hear firsthand from local CPAs that are e-filing about how it has changed their practices for the better by making them more efficient, saving money and saving office space.

With representatives from the Internal Revenue Service present, attendees also learned how the IRS is listening to practitioners in the development of the e-filing programs to make the systems user-friendly and cost-efficient for both the IRS and CPAs. New York state is also enabling practitioners to file income and sales tax returns electronically.

Seminar speakers included representatives from the IRS, the NYS Deptartment of Taxation and Finance, CAMICO Insurance and Society members David Luck and Karen Staples. Members generated some lively discussion with all the presenters, especially in the area of how electronic services will really be more efficient in the initial phases, whether CPA practices can really go paperless and if clients want to receive electronic versions of their tax returns.

The seminar, which was the first on electronic services that the task force would like to present to all chapters, was moderated by Fred Slater, member of the E-filing Task Force of the NYSSCPA Taxation Committee.