dishonest tax preparers - Judge Judy

[oceanlovin'ea]

My husband watches Judge Judy every afternoon. Yesterday a lady was suing a "friend" who had prepared her taxes. She had given her the information to have the refund deposited in her account but it never showed up. She contacted IRS and they told her what bank the refund had been deposited in. The only person who had an account at that bank was the "friend" who prepared the taxes.

Somehow she got a printout of the person's account for a period of several weeks or months. It showed about 6 deposits from the IRS in her account. apparently she had prepared taxes for several people on Turbo Tax. She told Judge Judy that the deposits were her refund. She said IRS had broken them up and put them in her account at different times.
Judge Judy told her something like "The next words from your mouth should be that she wouldn't say anything else without an attorney present." She told her to expect to be hearing from the IRS very soon.
I was surprised that was on Judge Judy. I told my husband that is why tax preparer registration is so necessary.

Linda, EA

[ChEAr$]

Amazing! To think that both parties must consent to have Judge Judy adjudicate their claims and that it might be on national tv.
What's the word? ... u... chutzpah?

[zeros]

Licensing

I don't think that licensing the tax preparers will weed out the dishonest ones. Do you?

[MAJ]

Dishonest Tax Preparers -- Where?

Seriously? Where? They exist?

Registering will do many things....

1) Drive up costs
2) Drive up our expenses
3) Create income for the state & gov't.
Of course - it will actually come at a loss no doubt due to the way they handle
just about everything.
4) Keep the honest people honest.
5) Allow the crooks to keep on operating under the radar because they probably
do not sign or claim the money anyway!!

But enough -- We're here - we all survived
Goes along the lines of ....

If we Outlaw Guns - Only Outlaws will have Guns!!

[veritas]

I would have enjoyed seeing that episode

Here's another good one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNo2I1NgSkc

[Gene V]

Here's another good one.


Hhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNo2I1NgSkc

That was good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNo2I1NgSkc

[S T]

Gene -You Tube Link

That was priceless, should have been posted under the EITC thread

for what it is worth, Thank Goodness for the Judge Judy's !

Sandy

[FEDUKE404]

Sad but true

That was priceless, should have been posted under the EITC thread

Sandy

Agreed, and a fine example of what goes on all the time.

Judge Judy did not quite pick up on the fact that the girl friend basically "loaned" her grandchild to someone else as a deduction/EITC vehicle. He merely claimed the extra deduction, without coming anywhere near the IRS rules for doing such. The EITC was just gravy for him (her).

I doubt if the guy's tax return was signed by the preparer, who was obviously complicit in the entire ruse. One would think all kinds of problems could occur along the lines of getting refund (bank account) that was not yours, etc.

But.........I bet everyone will keep all of the money with little harmful effects.

FE

[AZ-Tax]

Tax organizer mandates refund direct deposit info

My tax organizer mandates the client enter their routing and checking acct # for any refund. Over the past yrs I have had to go back to a few of my tax clients tax organizers showing them what they entered.

[FEDUKE404]

Potential problem

My tax organizer mandates the client enter their routing and checking acct # for any refund. Over the past yrs I have had to go back to a few of my tax clients tax organizers showing them what they entered.

"Mandate"? I wish I could use that on some of my clients.

While I see your point, having the client enter the RTN/DAN information can in and of itself create problems.

1) Many banks have a different RTN on their deposit slips as opposed to the one that counts....that on the check itself.
2) Clients may "know" their account number, but if there are leading/trailing zeroes not properly included on the tax form then there is going to be a problem. This issue can be especially problematic for those who choose to use a savings account for the refund deposit. My credit union has a 9-digit minimum for a savings account and a 11-digit minimum for a checking account.

Simple solution?: Client provides (photocopy of) a valid check, and I handle that responsibililty! It also gives me a chance to be sure that "Joe's" refund is not somehow or other being sent to "Bob's" account. For returning clients, I will also accept "the same bank account that I used last year."

While tax organizers can be beneficial (I would say perhaps 40% of my clients use them) there is somewhat of a narrow line for me to walk between being efficient and taking the extra time to do a little more than mere data entry.

FE

[solomon]

I told my husband that is why tax preparer registration is so necessary.

Linda, EA

Registration might increase competency a bit in some cases, but will do nothing for honesty.

[taxxcpa]

Registration advantage

Registration might increase competency a bit in some cases, but will do nothing for honesty.

It may weed out the unethical preparers who do not know how to cheat efficiently.
It will be a windfall for the more knowledgeable ones who are the most efficient cheaters.

[dtlee]

It may weed out the unethical preparers who do not know how to cheat efficiently.
It will be a windfall for the more knowledgeable ones who are the most efficient cheaters.

I think you make a very good point (and clever too).

[Davc]

The only person who had an account at that bank was the "friend" who prepared the taxes.

That must be a very small bank.

[DTS]

My wife was watching this episode and called me in to see it. After some prodding from the judge, the defendent confessed it was her sister was the one who prepared the return for the plaintiff. Quite a close-knit little group they have going.