Another April 15 has come and gone. Every Busy Season has its own unique challenges and opportunities. This year, we were reminded that Mother Nature doesn’t work on a deadline. Maine barely recovered from flooding caused by January rains before it was hit with two messy snowstorms in March and April that triggered widespread power outages across the state and much-needed tax relief from Maine Revenue Services and the IRS. Undaunted, ARB pushed through foul weather to meet its aim of providing superior tax preparation services on time.
With one of the biggest goalposts of 2024 in the rearview, ARB’s principals look back on the Busy Season that was and comment on what made this one unique, notable, challenging, and exciting.
Dan Doiron – “I noticed that a lot of 1040 clients think they need to hold onto all of their documents until they have everything, but they should send us their stuff even if it is not quite all there. Then, they can follow up later with the missing pieces.”
Laura Everett – “I enjoyed the reduction of Busy Season hours compared to years past. A&A jobs seemed to move forward easier this tax season. I won’t ever get a puppy during Busy Season again.”
Holly Ferguson – “It was challenging trying to plan around a potential tax bill that passed the House in late January and watching to see if the Senate would potentially pass it and impact returns we were working on. Still no movement in the Senate.”
Bart Haag – “New this year was the number of buy/sells we’ve been involved with in the auto industry. We’ve been doing valuations, assisting brokers, brokering deals, and doing tax projections for several potential deals.”
John Hadwen – “New software has the potential to improve our efficiency, helping to achieve our goal of reducing hours. But working in a cloud environment, with its frequent lag and error messages, introduces new challenges to overcome. Luckily, our IT manager, Tim Hollerbush, is great and has done an amazing job this season.”
David Jean – “Ownership transitions are on the rise. The M&A market continued to be very active this Busy Season. Already in 2024, we’ve guided several business owners through successful third-party sales. We’ve also seen sustained interest in ESOPs as a favorable option for many business owners and have recently helped a number of clients through the ESOP conversion process.”
Jason LeBlanc – “New team members to work with—I’m always impressed by the skills they bring to ARB. Fun games to ease the pressure. Working with new technology like SurePrep and SafeSend—I’m liking these new tools.”
Ben Lord – “A lot of new tech in both A&A and tax. Important and positive changes that work only with the right people and the right attitude . . . that includes staff, management, and clients.”
Matt Pore – “The recent IRS and Maine Tax Filing and Payment Relief due to the severe weather and flooding in December and January was unique. While I generally like to wrap up everything timely by April 15 every year, I have some clients taking advantage of the filing and payment deferral opportunities and sliding by 4/15 without any action required. The plan is to wrap up or formally extend these returns in late April so that we can still enjoy the late spring/summer months.”
Cheri Walker – “A few things caught my eye this Busy Season. I noticed we’ve been preparing one client’s tax returns since 1979. I noticed younger professionals and operations members stepping up to develop relationships with clients. And I always notice and am proud of the ARB team working collaboratively to provide meaningful service to clients.”
Cheri’s final comment was echoed by all of the ARB principals. When asked about this Busy Season, top of mind was always to heap praise on the people they work with. The real takeaway was the over-abundance of appreciation, respect, and excitement that comes from being part of this team.
And now ARB looks forward, knowing that the busy “season” never actually ends. The weather shifted deadlines and there are still plenty of extensions left to deal with. ARB takes a breath, takes pride in a job well done, and then gets right back to it. The next deadline will be here soon enough.
