Tax Clients Need Your Help
The Taxpayer Advocate Service announced in a recent report that it has to focus on high-impact tax issues because it simply doesn't have the manpower to help all of the millions of taxpayers who have tax problems at any given time. This sounds like a wake-up call to tax preparers. As the IRS beefs up its correspondence audit process, sending many more notices than in years past, it's likely some of your clients are seeing an uptick in letters from the IRS. Take this opportunity to communicate with your clients what your role is in helping them with notices about their tax returns and issues.
Instead of waiting to hear from your clients (some of whom, trust me, refuse to open IRS notices, applying the theory that what they don't know can't hurt them), you can make sure you're copied on notices. Use Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, to be copied on your client's notices from the IRS. And make sure you have a Power of Attorney on file if you are addressing tax issues on behalf of your clients.
Instead of waiting to hear from your clients (some of whom, trust me, refuse to open IRS notices, applying the theory that what they don't know can't hurt them), you can make sure you're copied on notices. Use Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, to be copied on your client's notices from the IRS. And make sure you have a Power of Attorney on file if you are addressing tax issues on behalf of your clients.
This blog
Gail Perry is Publisher at Sift Media US, Inc. and oversees the content on the Sift websites, AccountingWEB.com and GoingConcern.com. She has been the editor-in-chief at Sift Media US since 2007, overseeing the content on AccountingWEB.
Perry is a CPA and a former senior tax accountant with Big Four firm Deloitte. She maintains a small tax practice, she is a personal finance instructor, and the author of thirty books, including Surviving Financial Downsizing: A Practical Guide to Living Well on Less Income (Adams Media); QuickBooks on Demand (Que); Excel 2007 Macros Made Easy (McGraw Hill); The Complete Idiot's Guide to Doing Your Income Taxes (Alpha/MacMillan); and, most recently, Mint.com for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons). In addition, she is a former columnist for the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News daily newspapers.
Perry is a nationally recognized speaker who advises public accountants on using Internet tools to improve their accounting practices. She also taught a college-level introductory accounting class and was on staff at the Indiana CPA Society as a computer applications instructor. For five years, she was a contributing editor for Accounting Today magazine before taking over the helm at AccountingWEB.
Perry is a graduate of Indiana University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She returned to school to study accounting at Illinois State University, passed the CPA exam (in one sitting!), and worked for Deloitte in the Chicago tax department.
Gail has been named one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor magazine and the American Society of Women Accountants.
Perry is a CPA and a former senior tax accountant with Big Four firm Deloitte. She maintains a small tax practice, she is a personal finance instructor, and the author of thirty books, including Surviving Financial Downsizing: A Practical Guide to Living Well on Less Income (Adams Media); QuickBooks on Demand (Que); Excel 2007 Macros Made Easy (McGraw Hill); The Complete Idiot's Guide to Doing Your Income Taxes (Alpha/MacMillan); and, most recently, Mint.com for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons). In addition, she is a former columnist for the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News daily newspapers.
Perry is a nationally recognized speaker who advises public accountants on using Internet tools to improve their accounting practices. She also taught a college-level introductory accounting class and was on staff at the Indiana CPA Society as a computer applications instructor. For five years, she was a contributing editor for Accounting Today magazine before taking over the helm at AccountingWEB.
Perry is a graduate of Indiana University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She returned to school to study accounting at Illinois State University, passed the CPA exam (in one sitting!), and worked for Deloitte in the Chicago tax department.
Gail has been named one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor magazine and the American Society of Women Accountants.
ADVERTISEMENT
More from this blog
ADVERTISEMENT
