Dear Santa IRS,

All of us accountants have been very good this year! We adapted to all the changes, filed every form, and didn’t even complain about all the unopened letters, unanswered phone calls, and mysterious Stimulus checks. We are sure we are on the nice list this year!  Just to make things easier for you, we have created a list of everything we want for Christmas Tax Season this year.

1.  A Smiley Face System on all IRS letters

Everyone uses emojis now, why can’t the IRS get on board? This simple system would cut down on the 5 stages of grief experienced by our clients (and even accountants) when they get a letter. The Smiley Face would work like this:

Each letter would have a face on the envelope indicating the severity of the letter.

😃 “Refund!”

😊 “Nothing bad, just letting you know something is up”

😐 “We need to talk”

🤬 “Call your accountant now!”

2.  Get rid of your fax machine!

Honestly, this one is a gift for you more than it is for us. If you haven’t noticed, not even people’s grandmothers use fax machines. There are plenty of other ways to receive a letter, like an email or text even! We know it’s hard to get rid of antiques, but it is time.

3. Add a Too Long Didn’t Read To all your notices and updates

The IRS has somehow mastered creating letters that evoke a feeling of being extremely overwhelmed at the same time as being bored to death.  Half of an accountant’s job is to read the notices our clients don’t read because they have too much anxiety around it or don’t understand it because it is written in 1830’s Victorian English.

We know that these IRS notices aren’t meant to be as engaging as an issue of Cosmo. We aren’t asking for Notices titled “10 Ways to Drive your Auditor Crazy (Number 5 Will Shock You!)”, but it would be nice if you could add a little summary at the top for those not fluent in “Taxiense”.  Remember: if it can’t be made into a tweet, most people won’t read it.

4.  Get with the times

Now we aren’t asking you to get on TikTok – although watching your Appeals department explain why someone’s request is being denied while doing the Renegade would be highly entertaining- it would be nice to be able to have clients sign things remotely.

Even without a pandemic, it’s like scheduling a rocket launch to get clients to come into sign.

“Why can’t I just sign remotely?”

We don’t know, Sally! We wish you could too.

5.  Never change the tax deadline again

Seriously.

Don’t worry, we will keep being very good until the end of the year and even leave a 10 Key and black coffee out for you. We can’t wait to unwrap all our gifts this year!

Eagerly Waiting,

Accountants

 This post was made in collaboration with Xtreme Movement