{"id":173517,"date":"2023-01-19T08:53:24","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T15:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inbusinessphx.com\/?p=173517"},"modified":"2023-01-19T08:53:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T15:53:24","slug":"how-to-choose-a-tax-preparer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/?p=173517","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose a Tax Preparer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/inbusinessphx.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/BBB-and-In-Business-Magazine-Tax-Preparers.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-173518\" src=\"http:\/\/inbusinessphx.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/BBB-and-In-Business-Magazine-Tax-Preparers-300x200.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This year, United States taxpayers must file their income tax forms before the April 18, 2023 deadline. Major life changes, business ownership, or a lack of knowledge about the ever-changing tax laws make finding a trustworthy tax preparer important. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbb.org\/local\/1126\/about-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Better Business Bureau Serving the Pacific Southwest<\/a> (BBB) shares tips for finding someone you can trust with your finances and sensitive personal information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to choose the right tax preparer: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Review the tax preparer\u2019s credentials. <\/strong>EAs, CPAs, and tax attorneys are all qualified to represent their clients to the IRS on all matters. Other preparers can help you with forms and basic matters but cannot represent you in case of an audit. Don\u2019t be afraid to ask about these or other qualifications before you hire someone.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be wary of spectacular promises. <\/strong>If a tax preparer promises you larger refunds than the competition, this is a red flag. Many such tax preparers base their fees on the amount of your return and may be likely to use shady tax preparation tactics. In addition, it\u2019s wise to avoid tax preparers who offer \u201crefund anticipation loans\u201d as you\u2019ll probably lose a large percentage of your return to commission fees.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Get referrals from friends and family.<\/strong> One of the best ways to find a trustworthy tax preparer is to ask your loved ones for recommendations. Once you have a few options, check <a href=\"https:\/\/bbb.org\/\">org<\/a>, paying careful attention to other consumers\u2019 reviews or complaint details. This will give you a clear view of what you can expect.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Think about availability. <\/strong>If the IRS finds errors in your tax forms or decides to perform an audit, will your tax preparer be available to help you with the details? Find out whether you can contact the tax preparer all year long or only during tax season.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask about fees ahead of time.<\/strong> Before you agree to any services, read the contracts carefully and understand how much the tax preparer charges for their services. Ask about extra fees for e-filing state, federal, and local returns, as well as fees for any unexpected complications.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If things don\u2019t add up, find someone else.<\/strong> If a tax preparer can\u2019t verify their credentials, has a record of bad reviews from previous clients, or their business practices don\u2019t seem convincing, don\u2019t do business with them. Remember that if you hire them, this individual will handle your sensitive personal information \u2013 information you need to keep safe from corrupt or fraudulent tax preparers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>BBB encourages businesses to operate with integrity, and helps consumers make wise marketplace decisions. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbb.org\/local\/1126\/innovation\">innovative approach to business growth<\/a> provides the tools that companies and entrepreneurs need to build better businesses. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbb.org\/pacific-southwest\/public\/landing\/\">Become BBB Accredited<\/a> and join our mission to create a community of trust. Published with permission from Better Business Bureau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year, United States taxpayers must file their income tax forms before the April 18, 2023 deadline. Major life changes, business ownership, or a lack of knowledge about the ever-changing tax laws make finding a trustworthy tax preparer important. Better Business Bureau Serving the Pacific Southwest (BBB) shares tips for finding someone you can trust [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-173517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accounting-operations","tag-featured-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=173517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=173517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=173517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.inbusinessphx.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=173517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}