{"id":3214,"date":"2015-02-03T21:04:36","date_gmt":"2015-02-03T21:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3214"},"modified":"2015-02-03T21:04:36","modified_gmt":"2015-02-03T21:04:36","slug":"advice-on-paid-tax-preparation-as-return-processing-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3214","title":{"rendered":"Advice on Paid Tax Preparation as Return Processing Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>by John Michaelson\/TNS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; As the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began processing tax returns Tuesday, January 20th, the agency offered a word of caution for those who will seek help from a paid professional.<\/p>\n<p>IRS spokesman Mark Hanson says most preparers are knowledgeable and trustworthy, but sometimes taxpayers can be misled by those who don\u2019t understand complex tax situations &#8211; or who mislead people into taking credits or deductions they aren\u2019t entitled to, in order to increase their own fee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach year, it\u2019s not uncommon to find stories around the country where a tax preparer has done something that may not necessarily be right,\u201d says Hanson. \u201cYou want to make sure you have somebody who represents your best interests, and does so legally.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3215\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3215\" class=\"wp-image-3215 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/gr-44038-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"It may not feel like spring yet, but tax season will soon be arriving in Texas, and the IRS reminds taxpayers it\u2019s important to be wise in choosing a tax preparer. Photo: StockMonkeys.com\/Flickr.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/gr-44038-2-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/gr-44038-2-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/gr-44038-2-1-405x270.jpg 405w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/gr-44038-2-1-60x40.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-3215\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It may not feel like spring yet, but tax season will soon be arriving in Texas, and the IRS reminds taxpayers it\u2019s important to be wise in choosing a tax preparer. Photo: StockMonkeys.com\/Flickr.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Hanson says a reliable tax professional will have an IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number. He also advises taxpayers to investigate the individual\u2019s professional credentials, review the return before signing, and make sure any refund is sent directly to you, never to the tax preparer.<\/p>\n<p>Hanson also recommends checking the service fees for a professional tax service upfront.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA tax preparer should not be charging you a fee based upon the amount of refund you\u2019re expected to get,\u201d he says. \u201cThis could be a red flag, right up front.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hanson notes you\u2019re still legally responsible for what\u2019s on your return, even if you don\u2019t prepare it yourself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the IRS questions the accuracy of any information, we\u2019re going to ask you the taxpayer &#8211; not necessarily your tax preparer,\u201d says Hanson. \u201cSo once you sign that return, you\u2019re telling the IRS, \u2018This is a complete and accurate return,\u2019 to the best of your knowledge. Once you sign it, you own it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday, January 20th, was the first day taxpayers could file electronically, and also the first day for IRS processing of paper returns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by John Michaelson\/TNS AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; As the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began processing tax returns Tuesday, January 20th, the agency offered a word of caution for those who will seek help from a paid professional. IRS spokesman Mark Hanson says most preparers are knowledgeable and trustworthy, but sometimes taxpayers can be misled by those [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3216,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3214\/revisions\/3216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}