Beware Of Fraudulent Tax Preparers This Tax Filing Season

I was just chatting with a friend who was lamenting that he needed to stop procrastinating and get his income taxes done. It kind of struck me as strange, since I had my taxes prepared and filed in early February, and any money I was owed from the Federal and State governments, is long gone.

I think this is the earliest I have ever had my taxes prepared and filed electronically. My refunds came back rather quickly, even though we had heard that returns could be slowing in arriving this year.

If you haven't filed your 2021 income taxes yet, a friendly reminder, the deadline is Monday, April 18th. There are a few things to keep in mind if you are like me and have someone else prepare your income taxes.

The United States Department of Justice lists returns preparer fraud as one of the Internal Revenue Service's 'Dirty Dozen Tax Scams.' Beware of tax return preparers who may ask you to "sign a blank return, will not let you review your return before filing it, or is depositing your refund in a way that is not clear to you.”

Any tax filing prepared and filed by a tax preparer that has false information or errors will come back to them, but also could also fall on you as liability for unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest, according to the US DOJ.

If you have questions about filing your income taxes or need help finding a tax professional, the Internal Revenue Service website has a lot of good information to check out.

via United States Department of Justice, Internal revenue Service