Tax 2025

Last week I attended a 2025 Horizons forum sponsored by the AICPA. This is a project where the AICPA is updating its vision 2011 and considering how the world is changing and how that affects the work of CPAs. It is an interesting and important project. This visioning is needed in many professions and areas - including our tax law.

I have blogged on this before (3 years ago!) and written about it - how trends need to be considered in reforming our tax law (6/16/2008 and a more recent Tax Notes essay). I started a project even longer ago than that post on economic, social, technological, environmental and intergovernmental trends and what they meant for how the tax laws need to be updated. After attending the 2025 Horizons event, I'm reminded and motivated to get the full article updated and published.

One trend I think is underway, but a bit under the radar screen is that more people will become self-employed entrepreneurs doing business globally. Yesterday, my nephew in high school told me one of his summer classes at school is how to start an Internet business - great! If he or fellow students pursue this, they will soon find out that the tax law is not necessarily helping them. At the state level, there is confusion as to what is a service versus a taxable good, how to source software and services, and more. At the federal level, they will find they likely don't qualify for a home office deduction even though operating out of their home, and retirement plans are too confusing.

I'll write more later - ideally that longer article I need to update and get more data on.

What trends do you see that affect the work of CPAs or the tax system?