How Accountants Can Prepare Against Coronavirus in This Busy Tax Season?

The COVID-19 outbreak has evolved into a global pandemic, affecting every industry—including accounting and tax services. For tax professionals, this disruption comes at a critical time, with tax season in full swing and key deadlines approaching.

In response to the crisis, the Internal Revenue Service announced an automatic extension of the federal income tax filing deadline from April 15, 2020, to July 15, 2020. This extension applies to all taxpayers and includes relief from penalties and interest, regardless of the amount owed.

While this decision offers much-needed flexibility for taxpayers and the IRS, tax professionals must still stay prepared. As the season intensifies, they face the challenge of managing workloads, maintaining productivity, and supporting clients—despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

Impact on the Accounting Industry

The U.S. has recorded over 19,285 confirmed cases of infection and at least 249 deaths. A few days ago, those numbers showcased an addon of 85 deaths and 4,600 cases. The infection is taking a pace and proper measures are being taken to save the world from this threatening disease.

In the initial stage of the COVID-19, the businesses kept several stations for hand sanitizing throughout the office and emphasized the importance of handwashing. But with the rise in the number of corona cases, the workers have been asked to work from their homes.

Every industry is going through the same crisis and so is the accounting industry as people were not prepared for this kind of situation. All the accounting tasks have to be managed remotely and for that, a protocol has to be made, which should be strictly followed by the whole team. The three-month extension to file the taxes because of the coronavirus pandemic has given the professionals enough time to prepare for the tax season.

How do Tax Professionals need to Prepare for the Outbreak?

Various factors need to be considered to prepare for the worst-case scenario. All American citizens are advised to stay at their houses and work from home. So, the use of tax software cloud hosting is what comes to the rescue at this moment.

Here are the basic requirements for a smooth workflow during the outbreak:

Cloud Connectivity:  As the employees are going to work from home so they require proper cloud connectivity. The other important requirement includes a proper portal for the exchange of information and cloud-based software.

Keeping a cloud hosting service that provides exceptional service with high uptime is of utmost importance as the entire work of the business depends upon it. You need to understand that everything you are bound to do has to be done virtually.

Policies for remote working: The policies and procedures should be made properly, and strictly followed by the team so that there is smoothness in the flow of work. The disruption in the work can have consequences on the tax returns related to the investment of the business. So, it is important to plan it smartly and reasonably. The check-in time and work report of all the employees should be recorded and analyzed regularly.

Electronic Delivery: The employees and clients should be prepared for the possibility of electronic delivery of data and documentation. All the in-person appointments should immediately be changed to virtual meetings or phone calls. Keep communicating with your clients, check-in and assure them of your commitment through the internet or calls.

Filing extension: The filing extensions due to staff or client illness or local quarantine should be requested.

Sanitation: The establishment of sanitation procedures for the place the employees are working from.

These are some of the basic procedures that should be followed during this COVID-19 outbreak. The quality of the cloud hosting service is of utmost importance during this time. Secure and fast server, remote access, 99.99% uptime, and 24×7 customer support are the priority right now of a tax software being hosted on the cloud. The best thing regarding leading cloud companies is to offer the tax software cloud hosting platform with the kind of features and services that your business needs.