Closing Compliance Gaps in Client Payment Workflows

As clients adopt more payment platforms than ever, small firm CPAs, EAs, and tax practitioners are inheriting a growing layer of compliance risk. Clients now accept payments through multiple platforms such as merchant processors, online invoicing tools, peer to peer apps, and third party marketplaces. While convenient for the client, these disconnected systems often produce inconsistent reports, missing documentation, and mismatches between gross receipts, deposits, and tax filings. For sole practitioners and small firms with limited staff, reconciling this data can consume valuable time during already compressed filing seasons. More importantly, incomplete visibility increases the risk of income discrepancies, 1099-K reporting confusion, and IRS notices requiring additional explanation and documentation. In this session, Alternative Payments CEO, Baxter Lanius, will break down where compliance gaps most commonly arise in multi platform payment environments and how small firms can strengthen control without adding administrative burden. You will gain practical strategies to improve reconciliation processes, clarify gross versus net reporting, and implement structured payment workflows that protect both your clients and your practice. This session is designed to help tax professionals reduce avoidable risk, defend their work with stronger documentation, and create cleaner, more reliable reporting across client payment systems. Key Learnings: Identify Hidden Compliance Risks in Multi-Platform Payment Systems Pinpoint where fragmented payment activity creates reporting gaps, incomplete income capture, and documentation weaknesses that increase audit exposure. Understand the Source of Income Mismatches and 1099-K Confusion Learn how discrepancies between gross receipts, processor summaries, and bank deposits create filing inconsistencies, and how to resolve them. Strengthen Documentation for Notice Response and Audit Defense Develop practical documentation standards that make it easier to support reported income and respond confidently to IRS inquiries. Address Gross Versus Net Revenue Reporting Challenges Clarify how processing fees, chargebacks, and platform deductions affect reported income and how to avoid common classification errors. Implement Structured Payment Oversight Without Adding Staff Explore realistic workflow improvements that increase visibility and control while keeping processes manageable for sole practitioners and small firms.