4 Ways Tax Pros Say Pandemic Has Changed Their Practice
From creating online professional and legal education for clients who can no longer attend conferences to developing new methods of communication with state tax agencies, the global pandemic has changed state tax practice in significant ways.
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Tax Agencies
While some aspects of practitioner relationships with departments of revenue haven't changed much, especially in business conducted over the phone and by email, the pandemic has given rise to a host of new issues to navigate.
Among the issues that can be cause for concern are knowing which states will accept electronic signatures and realizing that previous ways of sending documents may not be as reliable now, said Craig Fields, state and local tax group chairman at Blank Rome LLP.
"Some states allow electronic signatures for many things, and some allow them for very few things," Fields said.
In the past, when original signatures were required, firms may have used overnight couriers, he said, but on-time deliveries are not guaranteed during the pandemic.
"In the old days, overnight generally meant overnight," Fields said. "In the past two months, that's not necessarily so."
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New Schedules and Environments
Practitioners with school-age children are working full time while also, in coordination with their spouses, home-schooling those children. Some are taking care of babies and toddlers. All are juggling work and home life with new realities.
Fields of Blank Rome, who lives in New York City, said that for too many weeks, his work at home was punctuated by sirens screaming nearby at all hours, a constant reminder of the suffering caused by the pandemic as it ravaged his town. He said he is thankful that those sounds have now eased.
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"4 Ways Tax Pros Say Pandemic Has Changed Their Practice," by Maria Koklanaris was published in Law360 on May 22, 2020.