New study shines spotlight on top needs for tax pros

Intuit® Accountants recently released the 2022 Taxpayer Insights & Intelligence Brief, a comprehensive study that surveyed more than 3,000 U.S. taxpayers using a tax professional to prepare their taxes.* The study provided a holistic view of a taxpayer’s experience when working with a tax professional to gain insights into their expectations and service needs.

As the tax and accounting profession shifts from leading with compliance-based work to offering tax advisory services, the results showed a strong appetite from taxpayers for tax advisory and audit protection/resolution services. In addition, the remote work revolution has increased the value of data storage, security, and electronic signatures in the minds of taxpayers. 

“At Intuit, we strongly believe that to best deliver for tax professionals, it is important to understand what matters utmost to them— and that is their clients,” said Dustin Kroeger, ProTax Group vice president of marketing.”This study sheds light on what is important to clients regarding not only the services they receive from their pros, but also how they work with their pros. As we gain these insights, we can work together to drive better financial outcomes for their clients.”

The study’s results also showed a strong market opportunity for tax professionals to adapt their portfolio of services to meet the needs of taxpayers.

“Intuit works to solve pain points for our customers,” said Kroeger. “As we gain these insights, we can all work more seamlessly in tandem for taxpayer and firm needs to power growth and success.” 

Topics highlighted in the study include the following:

Tax advisory

• 69% of taxpayers want more advice from their pro.
• 83% of taxpayers would rather work with a tax professional who can give tax advice year round, in addition to filing their tax return.
• 79% of taxpayers are willing to pay more for a tax professional’s services if it might result in improved financial outcomes, for example, in reducing tax liability, money savings, and other areas.

Audit protection and resolution

• 84% of taxpayers want to have peace of mind knowing they will have help in the event of an IRS audit.
• 7 out of 9 taxpayers would choose a tax professional who offers audit protection over one who does not.

Data storage, transfer, and security

• 66% of taxpayers expect to sign tax documents electronically.
• 86% of taxpayers expect their tax professional to store their tax documents/information with industry-standard security, such as an encrypted server with an enterprise firewall.

For more information about Intuit’s ecosystem of tax solutions, visit https://proconnect.intuit.com/, and visit the Intuit Tax Pro Center often.

*Source: “Taxpayer” study, Radius Research, April 2022.