* Russ Fox has a
good warning for small business owners in “CPA Allegedly Practices Theft of Funds” at TAXABLE TALK.
The
post discusses two CPAs who had clients make payments for federal and state tax
liabilities directly to themselves, with the assumption that they would submit
the payments to the appropriate tax agency.
Instead they just kept the money.
Russ
tells us –
“I haven’t met an accountant who would want
you to make checks for your taxes payable to the accountant. If that’s what
your accountant wants, be afraid.”
He
also points out –
“Finally, I’d like to point out that Mr.
Voltz, like Mr. Murray before him, is a CPA. He presumably has taken his ethics
requirements. That hasn’t stopped him from being accused of what anyone would
call a serious violation.”
While
Russ is saying that registration/licensing of tax preparers will not stop tax
fraud, with which I agree, my take is that forcing all preparers to sit through
2 hours of ethics classes each and every year will not turn a crooked preparer
honest.
* Russ also warns
us “Beware: Lots of Incorrect IRS Notices”.
He tells it like it
is (highlights are mine) -
“Many IRS notices are wrong. Indeed, of the CP2000
notices I’ve seen this year at least 80%
are wrong. Yet I have clients who just want to pay the IRS to get them off
their backs. I cannot overemphasize that most IRS notices are not reviewed by a
human before they’re sent to you. You will be the first person to read the
notice. Do not assume a notice is
correct just because the IRS says so.”
This is nothing new
– I have been saying for years that more than half (I was being conservative)
of IRS notices are wrong. And when it
comes to state tax notices, especially NJ, the percentage is higher.
* The title of this IRS release says it all
– “IRS Announces More Flexible Offer-in-Compromise Terms to Help a Greater Number of Struggling Taxpayers Make a Fresh Start”.
This is the program under which certain “tax
resolution” companies advertise you can settle your IRS debt for “pennies on
the dollar”. It ain’t necessarily
so. However a reputable tax pro can use
an Offer In Compromise to reduce your tax debt.
* Another
self-explanatory IRS release title – “IRS Releases the Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2012”.
“The Dirty Dozen listing, compiled by the IRS
each year, lists a variety of common scams taxpayers can encounter at any point
during the year. But many of these schemes peak during filing season as people
prepare their tax returns.”
* Over at the CHICAGO
TRIBUNE Steve Rosen provides us with “Kids and Money: A Primer on Tax Deductions”, which discusses “some of the importantissues that summer workers and parents need to know”.
TTFN
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