Bad tax advice

[powerage]

We all have been through this a million times. It has been really bad for me the last 3 days though. One young couple, just married in October, were given horrible tax advice from someone about their filing status, and now their easy tax situation is really messed up. I had to refer them the my immediate boss, an EA, so the problem can be fixed.

I have been trying to get the word out on the internet about not listening to tax advice from someone who does not prepare taxes for a living.

[MilTaxEA]

Do you care to share any of the details? It is always entertaining to hear what rumors are flying around...

[BP.]

Do you care to share any of the details? It is always entertaining to hear what rumors are flying around...

Yes, especially since it is so hard for us to get into see the barber/beautician right now.

[ChEAr$]

We all have been through this a million times. It has been really bad for me the last 3 days though. One young couple, just married in October, were given horrible tax advice from someone about their filing status, and now their easy tax situation is really messed up. I had to refer them the my immediate boss, an EA, so the problem can be fixed.

I have been trying to get the word out on the internet about not listening to tax advice from someone who does not prepare taxes for a living.

So then, let me guess. The advice was that since they were single more than half the year,........
1. she could file HOH.
2. each could file single.
3. since they lived together, each could claim one kid.
4. They were REquired to file jointly.

[taxea]

I ask where they got the advice? Is this person a trained tax preparer and would they please ask the person for the cite or source of the information because I am willing to learn anything that will help me to prepare taxes correctly. Then I ignore what they were told and tell them what the regs. say about the issue. Depending on what it is I may even give them a copy of the reg. to take to their "oh so wise" tax consultant. One can never educate the public too much especially when they spout stuff they know nothing about.

[powerage]

I think she filed single, return accepted and refund received. They had 5 kids with them also. I'm not allowed to do amended returns, so I had to send them to my boss. Their tax situation was so easy. I told them not to follow any tax advice from anyone other than a paid preparer.

Another was this, lady tells me her daughter is in college and pays her own expenses, including tuition. Lady told me that a friend told her, she could claim the education expenses, instead of her daughter, because they used Mom's tax info.

[MilTaxEA]

I'm a little confused on the second situation. Was the daughter a qualifying child? If so, then the mother *can* claim the educational expenses on her tax return, regardless of who paid them.