How can you tell who is a reliable person to assist you with your taxes?

Question

I know there are professional tax advisors, but I don't know how to tell if they're licensed or not.
I've heard bad things about H&R Block, but my fiance and his parents have been going to a man who works there for 15 years, and they say he's good.
My roommate has always gone to some other tax advisor who she says gets her lots of deductions (which always sounds a little fishy to me, because she doesn't have a uniform for work, but she does buy "professional wear", but it isn't anywhere near $5000, so I don't see how it would make more sense to itemize her clothes and gas and stuff) and she always gets a good refund.
My mom has always used this lady who does your taxes if you fax her your W-2, and I have used her before, but it makes me a little uncomfortable to just fax someone your paperwork, and not actually sit down with them and have them ask you for more information, to find out what deductions you might be eligible for.
I used TurboTax once last year, but last year was the first time I'd ever actually ended up owing taxes instead of getting a refund, and when I put in my info this year, it said the same thing, so I've kind of got a bad taste in my mouth from them.
My fiance, my roommate, and my mom all want me to go and use "their people", since they're sure it's incorrect that I owe money because they always get refunds. I'm pretty sure that whoever I pay to tell me about my taxes is going to just tell my I do actually owe the $68 to the government, and then turn around and charge me $100 or something for telling me that. But I want to go ahead and go to someone so I can shut everybody up once and for all so they can stop telling me about all the money I'm supposedly missing out on. I think my fiance's job must not report all of his commission from his sales. I think my mom gets a refund because she has 5 kids living at home, she's in college, and one of her kids at home is in college. I think my roommate gets a refund for God-only-knows what reason, because her tax person uses fishy deductions. I think I don't get a refund because I work one full time job with a flat hourly rate and no commission or anything like that, I don't pay anything for school because I get financial aid, and I don't have uniforms or anything like that for work.
But I digress... my initial question stands: How can I pick the right person to do my taxes this once, so I can determine if I was getting it right with my whole Turbo-Tax thing anyway?

yourtabo · Accepted Answer

If you go to HR Block or Jackson Hewitt, ask for a tax preparer with EA (Enrolled Agent) license. An EA is a tax professional that passed a 3-part exam from the IRS. EA is very good at tax laws and is required to take continued education every year. A good tax preparer should always ask lots of questions about you (to determine certain tax situations).

Judy · Answer

It's a tough question.  Block for example, and other similar places, has some very comptetent people, but also has some who just took a course and are probably OK for a very simple return but can be over their heads quickly with anything even slightly complicated.  Some have enough sense to ask for help from the experienced people, others just plow ahead and have a very good chance of messing up your return.

Stay far away from the preparer your roommate uses.  She is headed for trouble.  Even if SHE doesn't pop up for an audit, when any of that preparer's other clients get audited and all the phony deductions are found, the IRS will audit everyone that preparer has done, so she'll be paying a ton back.

The preparer who gets the info by fax might be ok for a very simple return, but it's a lot better if a preparer actually talks to the person and asks them questions - that can save mistakes.

I'm not sure you understand just what a refund is.  Through the year you might have money withheld from your paycheck for federal income tax.  At the end of the year, you prepare a form called a tax return to calculate how much tax you owe total for the year, and compare that to what was withheld.  If you had more withheld than your total tax, you get the extra back as a refund.  If you didn't have enough withheld, you have to pay the rest rather than getting a refund.   So getting a refund or not doesn't mean that your taxes were prepared properly, or that you missed somehting.  It just means that you had more taken out than you needed to.

Sounds like your tax return is very simple.  If you'll post here again with the numbers from boxes 1 and 2 of your W-2 someone can probably estimate your tax.  Will also need to know whether or not you are a dependent of your mom.

IT&#39;S MY MONEY AND I WANT IT NOW!!! · Answer

everyone's tax return information and outcome is unique.you may be underpaying on your taxes so that's why you owe.you may need to fill out another w-4 at work and lower the number of exemptions you're claiming so that more taxes can be withheld form your paychecks and if you over pay you'll get it refunded next time you file your tax return,it's really not good to get a big refund,but just to be safe just lower the number by one or maybe 2 exemptions on your new w-4.

that's not bad that you owe 68 dollars either,that's great.that means you kept more of your money in your paychecks through the year instead of loaning to the gov interest free all year,very smart.so you should keep your w-4 like it is or lower the number by one on a new w-4 but not two.

drtried · Answer

Most people that get refunds in the middle-lower class range get them because they've failed to adjust their dependents properly during the year. They think getting a big refund is some sign of them doing something right, when in fact it shows their financial ignorance. 

You need to understand why people owe taxes: it means that you underpaid the IRS. If you get a refund, that means you overpaid them during the year. Who in their right mind would continue to overpay over and over???  It's almost like they WANT to give up their money during the year just to get a big refund. Wow, that's bizarre.

If you're doing something wrong, then so be it, but I doubt you are. Chances are all your acquaintances are just so ignorant they pay all these taxes during the year and holler "yippee" at the end of the year when they get a big, "You paid us too much, moron" refund from the IRS.

Wayne Z · Answer

Avoid the preparer that your roommate uses.  She is asking for trouble in the long run.

The preparer at Block sounds good.  The one thing a good tax preparer can do that the tax software can not is tell you WHY you owe.  In my opinion, WHY is as important as WHAT.  It may be worth $100 if the preparer explains everything to you so you can understand what is going on.

Kathleen · Answer

I don't know about complete criminal record, but if they have been in prison, I know that here in Oklahoma you can go to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections website and do an offender look up by their name. When you find them it will list the offenses that they were in prison for and you don't have to pay a dime for that.

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How can you tell who is a reliable person to assist you with your taxes?

6 Answers