Tax-prep offices 'swamped' as extended July 15 filing deadline approaches

For certified public accountant Brad Jadlowiec, a shareholder with KSL Associates in Shaler, July has felt a lot like April during a normal tax year.

“The people who normally would have come April 10 are coming in July 10,” Jadlowiec said, noting the July 15 extended deadline to file federal taxes.

The mid-March economic shutdown in Pennsylvania came during the busiest time of the year for those who help prepare tax returns.

“Mid-March, that’s pretty much full steam ahead for us,” Jadlowiec said. “When the shutdown happened, with the closures, we started doing a lot of planning with our small business clients for that.”

Jadlowiec said the filing deadline extension gave him additional time to help clients prepare for how to absorb the financial blow dealt by the covid-19 pandemic and resulting business restrictions.

In Greensburg, CPA John Pushic said he almost wishes the deadline hadn’t been extended.

“Existing clients who normally would wait until April are now calling in July,” Pushic said. “It’s not as bad as the April 15 crunch, but on a scale of one to 10, it’s probably a seven or an eight.”

Kim Deemer, office manager at Dennis Piper & Associates in O’Hara Township, said the situation is similar at her office.

“We’ve been getting last-minute filings and new clients,” Deemer said, “It’s kind of the same mix as what goes in in April. It just kind of ruined everyone’s summers, that’s all.”

Despite the deadline crunch, however, the overall numbers are not that far off from 2019, according to the Internal Revenue Service. For the week ending April 17 (the end of tax season in a normal year), the IRS reported receiving nearly 116 million tax returns — only 15% fewer than the same time in 2019.

And, by the week ending on June 26, the IRS had received nearly 140 million returns, only 3.5% below the same time last year.

Jadlowiec said he spent some of his extended tax time working with clients on “how to cut costs, how to utilize the stimulus package, all of that.”

Pushic had a similar experience.

“Particularly with the Paycheck Protection Program loans, almost all of our clients called with questions about that,” he said. “Probably three-quarters of them elected to do that, and we assisted them. So, we had not just our initial tax-season burden, but also gathering information for clients to apply for those loans.”

Pushic said, even with the PPP loans, the shutdown will have a major, potentially permanent effect on some of his clients.

“Especially hairdressers and restaurants,” he said. “I wouldn’t be stunned if a lot of those places just didn’t reopen.”

As for the tax businesses themselves, things are humming.

“We’re swamped,” Pushic said.