Fraud Tip of the Day - April 4
How to Hire a Good Tax Preparer
Claiming to be a good tax preparer is one thing, delivering is another. As April 15 draws near, you may notice an increase in tax preparer advertising, each claiming to be better than the next. How does one decide which to hire? That's only one of the questions you need to answer. The first should be whether you even need professional help preparing your taxes. Here are a few things to consider while weighing this decision:
- If you're filing a simple return, the money may be wasted.
- Inexpensive tax preparation software can simplify the process for many of us.
- Ultimately, you're solely responsible for the accuracy of your return no matter who prepares it.
Should you decide to hire a tax preparation specialist to assist you in preparing your taxes we want to repeat that ultimately you are responsible for the accuracy of your return even if someone else prepared it. So you want to hire someone that's both honest and capable. Below are several tips on how to select a good, honest tax preparer:
- Be disbelieving of preparers who claim the ability to get you a larger refund than all others. If correctly prepared, your return should look the same or very similar across multiple preparers.
- According to the IRS, "A practitioner may not charge a contingent fee (percentage of your refund) for preparing an original tax return." So beware the preparer who charges by a percentage fee of your return.
- Choose someone close by that you can verify will actually be preparing your return. If you chose a firm with multiple preparers, make sure the one working on yours isn't new, inexperienced or in a foreign country. If they are, go somewhere else.
- Verify the preparer's past with the Better Business Bureau. For CPAs, contact your state's board of accountancy. Enrolled agents can be validated with the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility. Proper professional credentials are essential for anyone preparing your tax return.
Once you've decided on a preparer, keep the following in mind:
- Tax return preparers are required to sign the return, finish the preparer portions of the form and include his or her identifying number. A copy of your return should always be provided.
- As a final check, review your return and ask any outstanding questions before it's sent to the IRS.
- Don't ever sign a return in pencil.
- Never sign a blank return.
What's worse than getting ripped off by a scam? Getting conned by a tax scam then going to jail for tax fraud!
