Clarence Earl Gideon must be turning over in his grave.
Imagine a judicial system where criminal prosecutors had the power to disbar criminal defense lawyers. How long do you think it would take the United States Supreme Court to issue a unanimous decision declaring that system unconstitutional?
Yet the IRS is empowered to punish with the full force of its [...]
Tags: IRS procedure · Regulation of Tax Preparers · Taxpayer Rights
WebCPA reports that a Houston based CPA tax preparer has been suspended from practice before the IRS for filing false tax returns for his clients:
According to the IRS, Robert A. Loeser of Houston assisted his clients in lowering their tax bills by claiming false business expenses on tax returns he prepared. He allegedly advised his [...]
Tags: News · Regulation of Tax Preparers · Tax Crimes
The TaxGirl reports that Walmart again is offering its customers free tax preparation services:
[T]he Walmart Foundation has given One Economy and its partners $4 million to provide free federal and state income tax preparation service online and at locations across the nation. Taxpayers who earned less than $58,000 in 2009 can file for free online [...]
Tags: Regulation of Tax Preparers
Tags: Announcements · Regulation of Tax Preparers
“A person’s worth in this world is estimated according to the value he puts on himself.”
- Jean De La Bruyere -
Well-run tax peparation firms have minimum fees because they have calculated their break-even price points, the point below which they lose money by gaining clients.
Poorly run firms, on the other hand, pay no attention whatsoever to the costs associated with [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · Regulation of Tax Preparers
“Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.”
- Oliver Goldsmith -
When the only competitive advantage a tax preparer thinks he has over his competition is that he is cheaper, he’s in deep guano right from the starting block.
Yet, amazingly, some tax preparers believe price is the most important factor taxpayers should consider before hiring a tax preparer.
Unfortunately, tax preparers who think this, by virtue [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · Regulation of Tax Preparers
Currently unenrolled, soon to be licensed (I ass-u-me), tax preparer Robert Flach in a blog post advising taxpayers on how to choose a tax preparer trots out this old saw:
When you assume you make an ass out of u and me.
He offers two pieces of blanket advice:
Don’t assume that because a person has the initials “CPA” after his [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · Regulation of Tax Preparers · Tax Tips
Tax Girl Kelly Phillips-Erb tells about a tax preparer who files returns for her clients claiming payments from a secret taxpayer fund managed by the IRS (emphasis added):
This tax season, Penny Lea Jones won’t be preparing tax returns if the feds have their way. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge has issued a preliminary injunction barring Jones [...]
Tags: Regulation of Tax Preparers · Tax Crimes
“The complete lack of evidence is the surest sign the conspiracy is working.”
- Anonymous -
Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute - with whom I almost always agree - thinks the recently issued IRS preparer recommendations are a conspiracy plot. Here’s what he writes in his column titled H&R Block and the IRS: An Unholy Alliance to Ransack [...]
Tags: Regulation of Tax Preparers
With apologies to President Gerald Ford: My fellow tax practitioners, our long national nightmare is over.
Finally, the IRS has spoken on the issue of tax preparer regulation. Yesterday, it issued a 57 page document entitled Return Preparer Review in which it makes recommendations regarding the regulation and oversight of tax preparers.
Here’s the IRS’s sound (and rather obvious, [...]
Wall Street Journal – Taxes Blog
