The St. Louis Business Journal reports that complaints against Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) remain low:
Nationwide, complaints against tax preparers appear to be few. In 2007, 1,708 complaints were filed against tax preparers with the Better Business Bureau, according to its data. That’s more than double the 816 complaints filed in 2002, but still a small number, considering that H&R Block alone prepared 23.5 million returns for 2007.
But Alison Preszler of the Council of Better Business Bureaus says the low numbers should not cause CPAs to become complacent:
“The number is small, but any time we see an increase in complaints, it’s troubling,” said council spokeswoman Alison Preszler. “We want consumers to be aware of the pitfalls when you hire a tax preparer. Tax preparation is a very serious topic and when things go wrong, people get extremely upset.”
Most of the complaints involved tax preparation chains such as H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt.
Complaints against CPAs are usually referred to state accounting boards.
There are 18,200 CPAs in Missouri.
The Missouri State Board of Accountancy reports that in 2007 it processed 72 complaints against CPAs as compared to 112 complaints in 2002.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Tax Fraud Update: Colorado Preparer Gets 2 Years In Hoosegow // Jul 15, 2009 at 7:20 am
[...] Taxpayer Complaints Against CPAs Decline Bookmark & Share: [...]
2 IRS Tax Preparer Regulation Recommendations // Jan 5, 2010 at 4:20 pm
[...] Taxpayer Complaints Against CPA’s Decline [...]
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