How to Select a Tax Preparer
If you are going to pay someone to do your tax return, be sure to choose your tax preparer wisely. Remember that you are legally responsible for what is on your tax returns even if they are prepared by someone else. So, it is important to find a qualified tax professional.
- Find a preparer who will be around to answer questions after the return has been filed.
- Find out what the preparer’s service fees are before the return is prepared.
- Avoid preparers who base their fee on a percentage of the amount of your refund or who claim they can obtain larger refunds than other preparers can.
- Avoid tax preparers that ask you to sign a blank tax form. Never sign a blank return.
- Before signing your return, review it and ask questions. Always question entries on your return that you don’t understand.
- Ask others that you know who have used that preparer if they were satisfied with the services that they received.
- Ask for references from any preparer that you are considering.
- Check to see if the preparer has any questionable history with the Montana Better Business Bureau, the Montana Board of Public Accountants or the Montana Bar Association.
- Check to see if the preparer belongs to a professional organization, such as the Montana Society of Certified Public Accountants (MSCPA), that requires its members to pursue continuing education and holds them accountable to a code of ethics.
- Check to see if the Internal Revenue Service has obtained a permanent injunction prohibiting the preparer from preparing federal tax returns.
- Insist that the preparer sign the return and provide appropriate tax preparer information on the return.
Last updated 12/9/2011 11:52:16 AM