2013 Innovation Awards Nominee: Beyond415 Guidance

Practitioners are facing more tax work after filing. According to the IRS, practice and procedure work will only continue to increase as information-matching programs improve, and the IRS partners with tax professionals and expands compliance initiatives to close the tax gap.

Beyond415 Guidance is the practitioner’??s toolkit for IRS practice and procedure. In 2012, this Web-based product was unbundled from a larger workflow system and enhanced to stand on its own as a comprehensive research center for practitioners. The system features step-by-step guidance on a range of post-filing issues, written by experts, plus the ability for practitioners to add their own documents and client work examples.

Beyond415 Guidance features an expansive scope of information, arranged the way practitioners work to help them save time. The system provides current, practical guidance on individual, business and payroll areas of IRS practice and procedure, and breaks down every issue into easily understandable phases of work. Each phase comes with a detailed Workplan that includes step-by-step instructions, practice tips and links to the documents and forms necessary to complete each task.

Research shows that most tax practitioners bill for less than half of the time they spend on post-filing issues. Beyond415 Guidance helps practitioners plan their engagements better by providing a breakdown of the billable time that staff and managers typically spend on each issue. Beyond415 also provides projections for issue complexity and recommendations for appropriate authorizations, client agreements and IRS account research.

Beyond415 Guidance features hundreds of sample practice documents for responding to the IRS, including forms, letters, analysis tools and workpapers. These model responses provide guidance on how to get right to the point and eliminate back and forth with the clients or the IRS. Guidance users can add on the option to download and use Microsoft Office and fillable PDF versions of all Beyond415 practice documents.

Beyond415 Guidance users can also upload their own notes, hyperlinks and documents to any Beyond415 issue area, and even tag the resources with keywords to appear in search results. Reference materials can also be shared with other firm users to prevent rework and expand firm knowledge.

Time-saving features are important to practitioners when it comes to addressing client issues. Beyond415 Guidance includes the industryâ??s most comprehensive IRS notice database â?? with more than 450 IRS notices â?? that provides the details for each notice, including why the notice was sent, applicable deadlines, appeals information and a sample letter image. Beyond415 Guidance also features a comprehensive IRS Directory with specific contact information, including hotlines and directories for specific code sections and business units at the IRS.

Beyond415 takes a holistic approach to tax practice and procedure work. In addition to providing practitioners with resources specifically to address client issues, Beyond415 Guidance also features learning materials and training opportunities for practitioners to stay current with changes that affect their practice:

• 5-Minute Workshops highlight quick tips and recent changes to IRS practice and procedure.
• IRS alerts report breaking news on changes at the IRS and provide insight and action items for practitioners regarding those changes.
• NASBA- and IRS-approved CPE courses update and educate practitioners on practice and procedure.

Beyond415 Guidance gives practitioners the tools they need to increase their efficiency and effectiveness in tax practice and procedure work, which leads to greater profitability and productivity, all year long.

 

Click here to see an in-progress list of nominees for the 2013 Innovation Awards.