Detroit Business Law » CPA

So You’ve Filed Your Return with the IRS, Now What?

Jay Kossen, CPA — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:29:50 +0000

Have you ever wondered what your responsibilities are after you have filed a return? IRS tax tip 2010-74 provides a list of items ranging from how to check the status of your refund, to what you should do if you have made a mistake on your return.

To access this tax tip click the following link from the IRS website Here’s What Happens After You File IRS Tax Tip 2010-74.

This article was written by Jay Kossen, CPA at Numerico, PC. Click here to view Numerico’s website.

Generating Business

Editor — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:48:16 +0000

I recently found an interesting article on Open Forum form Julie Rains titled “11 Free Ways to Generate Referrals”

Her article provides a list of 11 different ways to generate referrals without spending money.

I find item 2 from her list to be extremely important in any service business, since a good portion of our work is dependent upon deadlines imposed by either clients or regulatory agencies. It is always better to under promise and over deliver than to make aggressive commitments that can’t be met thus resulting in a dissatisfied client.

To read the rest of her list click the following link 11 Ways to Generate Referrals

This article was written by Jay Kossen, CPA at Numerico, PC. Click here to view Numerico’s website.

IRS Proposes New Rules for Tax Preparers

Jay Kossen, CPA — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:33:57 +0000

The IRS has recently announced a new set of proposed rules for tax preparers. If enacted, the new rules would become effective January 1, 2011. According to the proposed rules, all paid tax preparers would be required to:

1. Register with the IRS and obtain a preparer tax identification number. Once a preparer is registered, the IRS will be able to verify that the preparer has filed his or her personal tax returns and business and employment tax returns, along with paying the taxes on those returns. If the paid tax preparer has not filed those returns timely or paid the taxes due, penalties can be imposed by the IRS, including a prohibition on filing tax returns for clients.

2. Submit to a competency test. This rule does not apply to attorneys and certified public accountants that are active and in good standing with their licensing agencies.

3. Obtain continuing professional education. Again this rule does not apply to the attorneys and certified public accountants of Demorest Law Firm, PLLC, or Numerico, P.C. since we have our own requirements from the Michigan Bar Association and the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants.

In my opinion, the proposed new rules are long overdue. Currently, only certified public accountants, attorneys and enrolled agents have standards that are implemented by their individual associations. For far too long, tax preparers have been able to put a sign up that says Joe’s Tax Service, yet they were not required to have any formal training, testing or registration requirements. The IRS is beginning to understand the complexities and dangers involved in regulating an industry with certain unregulated components.

Hopefully these proposed regulations will add a serious deterrent to the fraudulent or incompetent preparers that we hear about far too often in stories from individual taxpayers such as “I don’t know why I got such a large refund, my preparer just had me sign the return and I didn’t get all of the reported refund.” “ I didn’t know that I hadn’t been filing returns, I thought my preparer had already filed them.” “What do you mean that I have not paid my employment taxes for my business or filed my employment tax forms? I gave my paid tax preparer access to my Company’s bank account and electronic withdrawals for the employment taxes were taken from my bank account.”

To read the IRS proposed regulations please click here.