If your tax preparer made an error and it costs you money what do you do?

[Anonymous]

We got a wonderful love letter from the asshole IRS stating that there was an AMT mis calculation and we owe a few hundred more.

This is after 2 previous letter they sent in error that we refuted and won.

Now this one might be correct. What do you do, do you ask for a discount for the next preparation or do you just pay it?

FYI the amount of time, money and effort spent at the IRS to collect an additioanl 500 is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

You have to pay it. When you sign your statement you are supposed to review and look for errors.

You can go back and talk to your accountant, but mistakes happen.

[Anonymous]

Don't a lot of these places have guarantees?

[Anonymous]

If it's a miscalcuation you go ahead and pay. It's not the IRS's fault your preparer made a mistake and as a taxpayer I don't want you not to pay your share when I pay mine.

As to the preparer - did it cost you penalties or just the amount you should have paid in the first place? If the latter I don't think you should demand a discount. If it is costing you more money that it would have had the mistake not been made then maybe it's time to look for a new tax preparer.

[Anonymous]

OP - same thing happened to us and it turned into a $16K mistake not in our favor...PLUS penalties. You owe it, just don't use that CPA/Tax preparer anymore.

[Anonymous]

Only in America...everybody's ass is covered but the hard working people.

[Anonymous]

Flaming bag of poo was made just for this type of situation.

[Anonymous]

We had that happen. Luckily we did not owe any penalties. We paid what we owed and told the person who prepares our taxes mostly because we were trying to figure out what happened. People make mistakes. We did not expect our tax preparer to pay or give us a discount. Now, if it happens another time or two we may start looking for someone else.

[Anonymous]

Same thing happened to us but we had to pay (an extra $2000) but I was adamant that the preparer pick up any penalties which he did.

Of course, we have a new accountant now especially when we found out he had brought in college accounting majors do help out during tax season. If I'm paying he big bucks for an accountant, then I do not want Santa's helper!

[Anonymous]

You should pay the tax liability because it is what you owe and would have paid if your taxes were done properly. But your preparer should pay the fines and penalties.

[Anonymous]

I wrote a letter to our preparer and asked for penalties, and they paid immediately.