Struggling to find comprehensive guide for state tax compliance - help needed!

Do you think it's worth investing in the Bloomberg system for a small firm (5 CPAs) that handles clients in about 12 states? It seems expensive but we're constantly finding out about missed filings. Also, how do you handle the fact that requirements change frequently?

For a firm with 5 CPAs handling 12 states, Bloomberg might be overkill from a cost perspective. In your situation, I'd recommend starting with building your own internal database focused just on those 12 states. The initial setup might take 1-2 days per state, but the long-term benefits far outweigh this investment. For keeping up with changing requirements, I recommend subscribing to state tax update emails from each relevant department of revenue and secretary of state. Many offer free notification services. Additionally, consider joining state-specific CPA society groups which often provide timely updates on compliance changes.

Does taxr.ai work well for companies with employees in multiple states? We're dealing with a client who suddenly went from 2 to 7 states because of remote work policies, and I'm drowning in different withholding requirements.

I've heard of AI tools for tax research but I'm skeptical. How accurate is it compared to traditional resources? I'm worried about relying on something that might miss critical filings.

It handles multi-state employee situations really well actually. There's a specific module for remote workforce compliance that breaks down the withholding requirements by state. It saved us when one of our clients went from 3 to 11 states during the work-from-home shift. You just input the employee locations and it generates a compliance checklist. Regarding accuracy, I was skeptical too initially. What convinced me was running parallel tests against our CCH resources for a few months. The AI caught several things our traditional resources missed, especially around local tax requirements that technically aren't state-level but still apply. They apparently update the system daily with new tax bulletins and notices.

How exactly does this work? I thought there was no way to skip the IRS phone queue. Is this just paying for someone else to wait on hold for you?

Sorry but this sounds too good to be true. I've literally waited 3+ hours on IRS calls. If this actually worked, everyone would be using it. Do you work for this company or something?

It's actually pretty straightforward - they use a system that continually dials the IRS until they get through, then they call you when an agent is on the line. It's not skipping the queue exactly, but they handle the waiting process so you don't have to stay on hold. No, I don't work for them - I'm just a CPA who was sick of wasting billable hours on hold. It's not free (though I'm not discussing pricing), but when you factor in your hourly rate, it's absolutely worth it. For me, it meant I could work on other client matters while the system did the waiting. I understand the skepticism - I felt the same way until I tried it during busy season when we were drowning in IRS notices.

Do you have any specific spreadsheet templates you'd be willing to share? We're trying to build our own tracking system but starting from scratch is time-consuming.

I don't have anything I can share publicly, but I can describe our basic setup. We created an Excel workbook with separate tabs for each state. Each tab has columns for filing type, frequency, due dates, extensions available, online filing portal links, and special notes/requirements. We also color-code cells based on industry relevance, since some filings only apply to specific client types. The most valuable column has been our "common mistakes" section where we document issues we've encountered previously with that particular filing.

We use Checkpoint and while it's comprehensive, the interface is clunky and finding specific filing requirements can be time-consuming. It's better for research than as a quick reference guide for compliance deadlines. We ended up building our own calendar system anyway.