Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
MONTHLY MICRO APPS Three Apps for Mobile Professionals A
second software revolution taking place around us is the mobile revolution, which is changing the way we work, live, and communicate with everyone in our lives. The "app economy" is changing the way software is written, published, used, and consumed by everyone and major publishers are now direct competitors with apps from startups. Individual developers can now support themselves by selling apps in these mobile marketplaces, while outsourcing the sales and fulfi llment to the major marketplaces from Apple, Amazon, and Google. This month, we bring you three
apps which can make life easier for you and your clients. IRS2Go, a consumer-oriented free
app which can help your clients fi nd out their refund status. Key Ring Reward Cards, a tool
which will help you store all of those loyalty cards on your phone instead of carrying them around with you. We will also discuss the Google
Docs app for Android, and give you a glimpse into the future of this cloud-based service on mobile devices.
the topics may be somewhat sim- plistic for practitioners.
• Tool is not designed to assist with taxes other than income taxes, nor is it designed to make any kind of tax payments.
• Does not have strong integration with the IRS website, nor does it provide links to IRS e-Services for practitioners, publications or forms.
Operating Systems: iOS, Android Publisher: Internal Revenue Service Publisher's Website:www.irs.gov Price: Free
APP PROFILE: APP PROFILE: IRS2Go 2.0
Summary: A basic tax application for practitioners and clients. T e Internal Revenue Service has
Brian Tankersley, CPA.CITP, Technology Editor
Brian Tankersley is a Knoxville, Tennessee CPA and consultant whose practice is focused on technology consulting and training for accountants. Brian is a nationally recognized speaker with K2 Enterprises (k2e. com), and blogs on accounting technology at CPATechBlog.com. Comments, suggestions, and errata are always welcome, and should be e-mailed to brian.tankersley@ CPAPracticeAdvisor.com.
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created a new version of its application for users of Apple iOS and Android devices. T e app allows taxpayers to check on the status of their current year refund without calling your offi ce twice a day. Users can also order transcripts for their tax accounts directly from within the app. IRS customer service numbers are also included, and can be automatically dialed from within the app. Users can engage with the IRS by following their social media posts or subscribing to e-mail updates from within the application.
.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
Benefi ts: • Allows taxpayers and practitioners to check individual income tax refund status for the current filing year instantly, and order printed transcripts to be delivered to their address of record.
• Users can view YouTube videos and access IRS social media posts, as well as subscribe to updates on personal income tax rules from within the app.
• T e "Contact Us" tab allows users to dial the appropriate IRS customer service number directly from their smartphone.
Potential Limitations: • Tax updates through here are designed for a general audience, so
Key Ring Reward Cards
Summary: A helpful tool for simpli- fying your wallet. Over the last twenty years, many
retailers have established customer loyalty cards which allow us to receive special rewards based on our past purchases. Many of us lose out on discounts because we do not (and cannot) carry all of these cards. Key Ring Rewards Cards is an app for smartphones and tablets which stores these bar codes on your smartphone, with free cloud-based data backup. The software will create a barcode similar to the one included on the original card which can be scanned