Normally if you are going to hire an individual or company to perform a service for you then you want to know they are going to do a good job for the money. When it comes to hiring a tax preparer it can be a lot more difficult to determine just what kind of job they are doing for you. For the most part you may figure that if they completed your taxes on time, filed them and got you a nice return then they did a great job.
This may not be the case, however. You may not know much about how to complete and file taxes but you should know a few things about how to be choosy when it comes to deciding who is going to do your taxes for you.
First of all taxes are a serious matter. If they are not done right it can get you into trouble. The individual doing your taxes has to know the tax laws. Many times those that tout themselves as offering tax preparation have not had the formal training in these laws. They may have just studied the very same tax guide you get with your tax return, but they just understand it a bit better. If you tax return is the least bit complicated then this untrained individual may not be able to do the return properly.
You will often see ads around tax time for getting you the best income tax refund. This is great if it is a tax refund that is legally owed to you. You need to beware of getting a refund that you figure is unusually high or you really didn’t expect. There is a chance that the tax return has not been done completely right and you are getting a great tax refund makes the tax preparer look wonderful.
The credibility of your tax preparer is critically important. The CRA is aware of who has completed your taxes for you. If they are not fully trusted by the CRA, do you think it’s possible that your tax return prepared by them will be scrutinized? Or it could trigger an audit? Not because you have voluntarily done your return wrong, but the tax preparer is under suspicion.
Just in case you think that tax preparers would not put themselves in a position where they were not trustworthy you may want to read about this $73,906 fine that two tax preparers in the GTA recently were hit with for tax evasion on their own returns.
Don’t settle for less than the best when it comes to your tax return. Call us here at Toronto accountant and let us do your taxes right. We have the formal training and expertise and good credibility as being professional tax preparers.
