No dumb questions: What clients are asking this tax season

March 19, 2025 9:30 AM

Clients worry about crazy things every tax season, but this year their fears and obsessions and just-plain-odd ideas seem to be taken to a new level.

"In recent weeks, there has been a flood of information regarding the current state of the IRS, some of which has resulted in conflicting reports, creating confusion," American Institute of CPAs president and CEO Mark Koziel said in a statement about the season. "With the volatility of the present environment and rapidly changing events, it is important to reconcile fact from fiction for taxpayers and their advisors."

So clients are also continuing to voice a high level of loopy tax ideas — and tax preparers, as always, are responding with handholding and practical advice.

Still, "confused" may seem a mild word to describe the questions that clients are asking so far this season.

'What's going on?!!?'

Elon Musk

Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg

"Or variants [of that] that can't be printed," said Morris Armstrong, Enrolled Agent and registered investment advisor at Armstrong Financial Strategies, in Cheshire, Connecticut. "No one is really talking taxes but are wondering if the IRS will be functioning and if refunds will be given. Some have asked who'll know if they don't file and some say, 'Mr. Musk better not take my money!' On the advisory side, I've had long talks with some clients who think Mr. Musk will actually be reading their information." (See "IRS suffers another $20B budget cut.")

Cancel culture

Congress Focuses On IRS Delay In Disclosing Groups' Scrutiny

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

"I've quite a few clients asking or concerned if tax season will be canceled since the news about IRS layoffs," said Manasa Nadig, an EA and owner at MN Tax and Business Services and a partner at Harris Nadig in Canton, Michigan. "Others are asking if the deadline will be pushed out. I've told my clients that everything is business as usual and I'll update them if necessary." (See "IRS said to be planning to lay off half of staff.")

Preparers' problems

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

"It's pretty quiet on the client side. They're not feeling our stress and anxiety," said Larry Pon, a CPA and EA in Redwood City, California. "On the tax community side, it's the 6,700 layoffs from the IRS … the new probationary employees that the IRS worked really hard to hire. They've been training them for the past two years or as long as they've been at the IRS. It takes time to train an IRS employee. Many of these new workers were working the … public help line. It'll be harder to reach a human on the phone."

"The other questions are about the tax law changes and when they can stop paying taxes on tips and Social Security," Pon said.

What's in your shoebox?

Michael Flippo - stock.adobe.com

"For clients who have filed many tax returns in their lifetime, it may seem strange to ask, 'What do I need to give my tax preparer this year?'" said Jean-Luc Bourdon, a CPA at Lucent Wealth Planning, in Santa Barbara, California. "It's tempting to answer, 'Same as last year,' [but] tax rules change, and clients continuously need to be updated on what to provide."

Misinformation

Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

"Every year, clients read information online and ask if it'd be applicable for them," said Miklos Ringbauer, a CPA and treasurer/secretary of the CalCPA board of directors and founder of MiklosCPA in Los Angeles. "The strangest ideas are coming from 'accounting influencers/online professionals' touting their ability to show how clients don't have to pay taxes by implementing complex strategies."

Two of the most predominant misconceptions now, he added, are that clients with long-term rental activities should classify themselves as real estate pros with family members as independent contractors, and that a charitable remainder unitrust can increase charitable deductions without all those strict requirements and audit compliance.

Workout write-off

Said John Dundon, an EA and president of Taxpayer Advocacy Services in Englewood, Colorado, "I have four questions from the same taxpayer today: Should I wait to file to see if the IRS is abolished? ('No, don't wait. You're entitled to federal and Colorado income tax refunds.') Can I claim my wedding as a business expense because I networked with clients there? Can I write off my gym membership because staying healthy helps me work better? Can I write off my streaming subscriptions because I use them to de-stress from work?'"

Postpone and repeat

A firefighter hoses down a burning house in Altadena, California.

Michael Nigro/Bloomberg

Robert Seltzer, a CPA at Seltzer Business Management in Los Angeles, where the deadline for all individual and business returns as well as tax payments has automatically been postponed to Oct. 15 for all county residents: "Even my clients outside of L.A. County will get the Oct. 15 deadline, as well," he said. "I just need to provide a list of those clients to the IRS. The strange thing is my having to repeat this information several times."