In the News - March 6, 2023

This week in the news, several accounting software companies have announced updates and changes that could impact your workflow. Intuit reminds accountants to assist clients using QuickBooks Desktop 2020 in migrating to QuickBooks Online before the software is discontinued in May 2023.  Xero is completing the migration to its new reports experience and introduced a new way to import bank statement data, and Bookkeep announces a new integration with Davos by Avalara. In the world of tax, the IRS has issued a warning to taxpayers of new scams involving false wage information on tax returns and is promoting registration for the upcoming 2023 IRS Nationwide Tax Forums, which will be held in person in five cities across the United States.

IRS Fraud Warning and Nationwide Tax Forum Announcement

Tax season is in full swing, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a consumer alert warning taxpayers about new scams involving false credits on tax returns. Scammers are encouraging people to use tax software to manually fill out Form W-2, including false income information, and file bogus tax returns electronically in hopes of receiving substantial refunds. The IRS reminds taxpayers that there is no secret way to get free money, and that those who file false tax returns face potential penalties and investigation.

To help tax professionals stay informed and earn continuing education credits, the 2023 IRS Nationwide Tax Forums will be held in five cities across the United States this summer. Tax professionals can register now to attend and participate in seminars and workshops on a wide variety of federal and state tax issues presented by experts from the IRS and partner organizations.

Bookkeep Announces New Integration with DAVO

In other news, Bookkeep has partnered with DAVO by Avalara to offer a new sales tax service that enables clients to set aside, file, and make payments automatically. This integration combines the benefits of Bookkeep’s daily sales reconciliation and real-time reporting with DAVO by Avalara’s comprehensive sales tax automation, allowing merchants and accountants to eliminate the stress of manually managing, filing, and paying sales tax every month. Sales tax management is a complex and tedious process that poses risks to businesses and can result in costly penalties for late or inaccurate tax filings. The new Bookkeep sales tax automation in partnership with DAVO will be available in Q1 2023.

What's New with Xero

Xero has introduced a number of new features to its platform in the US. These include the ability to extract data from scanned PDF paper statements using Hubdoc's bank statement extraction feature and the removal of the purchase tax field in products and services to streamline the 'Add item' and 'Edit item' experience to improve the accuracy of tax calculation and financial reporting. They will also finalize the migration to the new reporting experience this month. Read about all the new Xero feature releases here. 

QuickBooks Desktop 2020 Will Sunset in May 2023

Intuit reminds accountants and bookkeepers that QuickBooks Desktop 2020 will be discontinued on May 31, 2023. To help clients avoid any issues with using an unsupported product, Intuit encourages migration to QuickBooks Online, which offers benefits such as time savings through automation and the ability to work from anywhere with up-to-date data.

Accountants can use the QuickBooks Online Migration Toolkit to start the migration process or utilize the services of Intuit's accountant experts to assist with data migration.