Audits of tax preparers?

[Black Bart]

Talking to two guys in the tax business the other day; this subject came up. I've never been checked and they said they hadn't either. Too, none of us knew any other tax preparers who have been audited either. Sooo...I thought it might make an interesting poll. I'll try it one entity at a time.

[Skate1968]

It's not an applicable question for me since i've not actually signed that many of them. (i've worked for someone else) But i am very interested to read people's responses to these threads.

[DTS]

Audit

Looks like I'm the only "yes" vote so far. Not my fault. Client was audited for the year before he came to me, huge underreported income and excessive mileage. Because of that, they looked at mine for the following year.

Good thing, as he did it again!

[Jiggers]

Whose return

Is this poll on the tax preparer's personal return being audited, or one of his clients? I read it as the tax preparer's personal return.

[Black Bart]

The poll is about the tax preparer's personal return

Is this poll on the tax preparer's personal return being audited, or one of his clients? I read it as the tax preparer's personal return.

and NOT the client's tax return.

[DTS]

Not mine!

They did NOT audit my personal return. It was the return I prepared for the client the year after the year in question.

Sorry, my misunderstanding. Now, can I take my vote back Bart?

Dennis

[Black Bart]

Sorry about that.

I edited the post to do away with the statement about your return. I misunderstood your post. Sorry. You could take your vote back if either of us knew how, but it won't hurt anything like it is because it looks like the nays have it (which is very comforting).

[S T]

You are not alone

Dennis,

On one of the other polls regarding this subject, I also voted, and had to post, "oops" misread, and I don't know how to take my vote back either.

Sandy

[Bees Knees]

No taking votes back. Once a vote, always a vote.

If you could take votes back, Minnesota would have un-voted for Jesse Ventura the morning after they woke up and realized what they had done.

[S T]

Disregard

BB,

Your poll might not be accurate, as some of us misread your post and poll. So some of the yes votes are probably not correct. I don't know if I am "yes"on this poll or #II,III,IV.

Sandy
Sorry

[DTS]

Voting rights!

Bart,

I am beginning to feel like a disenfranchised voter!

Dennis

[Black Bart]

Dennis & Sandy

Now I'm beginning to understand why politicians have to watch what they say. This votin' business is more complicated than I thought.

It never occured to me that people might think I was talkin' about their customers instead of them. But y'all did and I guess maybe Skate1968 did too from the way his post above reads about "not signing that many." That's happened to me before too -- I'll take somethin' one way, others take it another, and I can't figure out how in the world they came up with that interpretation. Anyway, re-reading my poll question, I can see how that could happen.

Still, I sort of think the majority meant their own personal returns (see, Jiggers is with me). Complete accuracy is preferable, but it's a hard thing to find -- I once saw a 1940s photograph of Lyndon Johnson and some other boys standin' around their car out in the boondocks after a state election with a stolen wooden ballot box sittin' on the hood.

Anyway, I think I'll wait and see if I get more questions about it before demanding a recount which could (possibly, but unlikely) show they're auditing lots of tax preparers, but not their clients. If you'd like to do a re-run, have at it. I don't have a patent on this pollin' machinery and have to keep hackin' at it just to get one to work right, so feel free to do the same.

Say -- about the CA gubernatorial election -- I kinda like Schwarzenegger, but wondered what you two Californians thought. Do you like him or think he's doing a good job out there or not?

[Joe Btfsplk]

Schwarzeneger

I'm not in California, but I like the Governator. I also like other non-conventional political candidates like Jesse Ventura and Kinky Freedman since they are not professional politicians.
Some jobs, however, need to have people with qualifications beyond being non-professional politicians such as District Attorneys, judges, Treasurers, State Comptrollers, etc.

Legislators have less need for experiance since they vote mostly on gut feelings and personal prejudice than on any technical skills.

[BOB W]

Don't get......

..... to comfortable with your return not being audited. I forget where it is published but, there are disbarment and suspensions listed regularly by the IRS. I don't know if these action are from clients return's or from personal tax preparer's returns, I assume both.

[Black Bart]

Why not

..... to comfortable with your return not being audited. I forget where it is published but, there are disbarment and suspensions listed regularly by the IRS. I don't know if these action are from clients return's or from personal tax preparer's returns, I assume both.

be comfortable with it? There's such a dearth of good news nowadays, that just about any glimmer of relief or good tidings is welcome. Generally, any new developments in our business mean more work, time, and money expended just to stay even or keep a little bit ahead of the hounds. This little poll isn't a "new development," but it indicates to me that there's a fair chance we might have one less ordeal to be dealt with and endured.

I know that disbarments and suspensions exist, just as penalties for breaking and entering exist, but if I am ever audited, I don't expect those things to happen. I might owe them some money, but certainly nothing on the level that poster-under-audit Emptyhead back there was talking about and I'll bet most professionals on this board could say the same -- which might be the reason so few of us have been checked.