Don't pay someone to make mistakes

[Jesse]

According to Fox and Friends tax preparation is easy and you can do it yourself. 53% of tax preparers make mistakes on your paid return and only 47% of those who do it on the "computer" make errors.

Another tip - work on your preparer, there is no reason they need to charge so much to do such an easy task - ask for a discount!

[AZ-Tax]

I saw that this morning.....

Did you notice the lady's nose from Smart Money mag was growing longer and longer while she was degrading tax preparer's or was it just my imagination?

[JohnH]

I can't wait

I'm looking forward to getting a call from someone who paid attention to this nonsense.
I expect to have a little fun with them - a nice diversion this time of year.

[Jesse]

Did you notice the lady's nose from Smart Money mag was growing longer and longer while she was degrading tax preparer's or was it just my imagination?

Not your imagination, it was growing! I would have liked to call in and ask why they deserve a paycheck - anyone can read from a script.

[dkss]

i also caught that segment. I am bracing for the barrage of inquiries -
TP:"how much do you charge?"
ME: "Well , that all depends on the return - our base rate starts at about $70 and goes up from there depending on complexity of the the return.....blah blah blah"
TP: "My neighbor only pays $40 to his girlfriend's uncle's best friend's live-in lover. FOX NEWS said I should get a discount - will you charge less than $40?"
ME: (thinking) what an idiot! (Smiling and saying) I am sorry. Our base starts at $70..."

[JohnH]

Possible reponses

How about this answer?
Buying quality tax preparation is like buying oats. For a fair price you can get good quality oats. However, if price is your only consideration, then for a little less money you can buy oats that have already been through the horse. It's your choice.

[veritas]

fortunately for me

living in portland, oregon an extremely blue area. Nobody listens to Fox besides me. Around these parts it's called the Faux news channel.

What's the Chavez News Channel saying? That's the one I gotta worry about.

[joanmcq]

I get paid a pretty good wage to fix those 47% of errors. And some of the errors are whoppers too. Some of them become my clients too.

[mblatour]

I read that article in both Money and Smart Money magazine...

and I was so irritated by it. It did a real number bashing tax preparers. "Top 10 things Tax Preparers Don't Tell You". It made it sound like people are better off doing their own taxes because we charge too much and make more mistakes than the average Joe. It also said something about CPA's charging upwards of 10 times more than H&R's rates. Now that I find to be very "pinnochio". What a load of crap.

[taxxcpa]

Tax preparer errors

I don't think the preparers who make all those mistakes are people like those on this message board.

There are a lot of fly-by-night RAL-pushing preparers who probably do make a lot of errors. Some have never prepared a return before taking a one or two hour training course. If the preparer also sells pornography, fake ID cards and runs a check cashing service--he might make errors on 70%-90% of the returns he prepares.

Also, there are a lot of people who have only a Form 1040, some interest income, mortgage interest and real estate tax to enter in a do-it-yourself tax program. These people probably are the main ones who prepare their own returns accurately. The kind of people who need professional help and try to do it themselves probobly make a very high number of mistakes--just as I would if I tried to repair my own car or install a central air conditioning system. But if I only need to replace a screw, I don't need a professional to do it.

[newbie]

I don't think the preparers who make all those mistakes are people like those on this message board.

But if I only need to replace a screw, I don't need a professional to do it.

That is not how the article comes across. It generalizes all of us paid preparers. And although you can replace the screw, it might take a professional to figure out which screw to replace!

[gkaiseril]

According to Fox and Friends tax preparation is easy and you can do it yourself. 53% of tax preparers make mistakes on your paid return and only 47% of those who do it on the "computer" make errors.

Where did this come from? The IRS for all returns. What type of errors? What preparers?

If 47% of the computer prepared returns have errors, how good are the computers and the programs? I would demand my money back for a computer or program that was that bad. Even the pentium floating chip error was not that bad.

What is the error rate on e-Filed returns? Most prefessional preparers e-File and their rate must be lower?

[QUOTE=Another tip - work on your preparer, there is no reason they need to charge so much to do such an easy task - ask for a discount![/QUOTE]

Many preparets earn their income in 3.5 months and pay rent for 12 months. Further there are federal regulations about how one can charge for a return either flat fee or by the form, schedule or entry or an hourly rate.

[Bees Knees]

If a client asks me about that article, I’ll say this:

“I don’t know if the article is true when it says 53% of returns done by paid preparers have mistakes, but I do know this… Whenever someone new comes to see me who self-prepared their return the previous year, I find mistakes on over 90% of those returns.”

If they ask for a discount, I’ll say this:

“Out of the thousands of returns I’ve done since I started back in the early 80’s, I haven’t run out of fingers yet counting up my errors. I think my prices are too low with that kind of record. What do you thing?”

[David1980]

I wouldn't be shocked if 53% of returns prepared by a paid preparer had errors.

Like taxxcpa said, there's a lot of "fly-by-night RAL-pushing" prepares.

Preparing tax returns for money is one thing that almost anyone can do. No bachelor's degree, no license, no exams, no tests required.

I imagine if you looked at the numbers and didn't include those returns but only included what most of us would consider "legitimate" prepares the error rates are much lower. Or look at returns prepared by EA's only, or CPA's only, etc...

If a customer of mine was fooled by those things I'd tell him exactly that too. *Anyone* can be a paid prepare and most do not have the knowledge or the will to do it correctly. Then mention whatever qualifications you have that justifies the price.

[veritas]

I reviewed a "basic" return

done by a paid prepaprer for 2006.

On Sch A under misc deductions not subject to 2% limitations was,

Home Improvements $2,000