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Unscrupulous Return Preparers:
Selecting the right return preparer is important. They are entrusted with a taxpayer’s sensitive personal data. Most tax professionals provide honest, high-quality service, but dishonest preparers pop up every filing season committing fraud, harming innocent taxpayers, or talking taxpayers into doing illegal things they regret later.
Taxpayers should avoid so-called “ghost” preparers who expose their clients to po-tentially serious filing mistakes as well as possible tax fraud and risk of losing their refunds. With many tax professionals im-pacted by COVID-19 and their offices po-tentially closed, taxpayers should take particular care in selecting a credible tax preparer.
Ghost preparers don’t sign the tax returns they prepare. They may print the tax return and tell the taxpayer to sign and mail it to the IRS. For e-filed re-turns, the ghost preparer will prepare but not digitally sign as the paid prepar-er. By law, anyone who is paid to prepare or assists in preparing federal tax returns must have a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). Paid prepar-ers must sign and include their PTIN on returns.
Unscrupulous preparers may also target those without a filing requirement and may or may not be due a refund. They promise inflated refunds by claim-ing fake tax credits, including education credits, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and others. You should avoid preparers who ask them to sign a blank return, promise a big refund before looking at the taxpayer’s records or charge fees based on a percentage of the refund.
Taxpayers are ultimately responsible for the accuracy of their tax return, re-gardless of who prepares it. As a taxpayer, you can go to a special page on IRS.gov for tips on choosing a preparer.
Please Contact Us for more information and to recieve a consultation.
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Today and always, we are focused on our purpose – “Helping Clients Keep More of What they Earn”
Did you know RSV-CPA offers the following Services?
- Tax Services—Corporate & Individual Tax Returns
- Accounting—Bookkeeping, Financial Statements & Reporting
- Consulting—Business
- Quickbooks— & Training
- And much more!
OUR FIRM:
Rick S. Vourganas—CPA
Kristin Enochs—- Firm Administrator
Micah Cypert—Sr. Tax Accountant
