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First,
every year somebody writes the story about calling the IRS five times
for clarification on something in the tax code, and receiving five
disparate answers.
Second,
I have a friend who, every year for the past fifteen, used a
computer
tax program like Tax Cut (H&R Block). In what seemed like a
never
ending assault, beginning in 2004, his returns were "audited" by the
IRS,
and he was socked in the neighborhood of $60,000 for unreported income,
penalties and interest. If you know his situation, you'd know how
ridiculous that is. He went to a professional tax payer after his
wife
heard about one at work. Larry (the CPA's name) told him
that the IRS
loves the computer program returns, because like a captured
MiG
they've flown it, and know how to outmaneuver and kill it. He
paid him
$550 for each disputed year's return. In return, everything was
dismissed. Plus! He received about $2500 in
overpayment!
Here's why I'm telling you this.
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The IRS wants to save you from your rogue tax accountant.
The nation's green eyeshades are now destined to come under the
regulatory rule of the Internal Revenue Service as part of the Obama
Administration's latest revenue grab.
Under the plan, which would begin with the 2011 tax season, anyone who
takes money to help people with their taxes will have to register with
the IRS, and eventually pass competency tests and sign up for
continuing education. So having made tax filing so complicated that
most Americans need help with their forms, Washington now wants to
raise the price of such counsel by regulating advisers in a way that
may reduce their supply.
Defending the decision, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman declared that
regulating tax preparers was reasonable because "In most states you
need a license to cut someone's hair." Yes, the cosmetology guild does
like to raise the barriers to entry for competitors.
Cheering the new regulations are big tax preparers like H&R Block,
who are only too happy to see the feds swoop in to put their
mom-and-pop seasonal competitors out of business. [H&R Blockheads cont]
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