Chain tax preparers do not fare well in undercover investigation

Date:April 13, 2006 / year-entry #133
Tags:non-computer
Orig Link:https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20060413-59/?p=31533
Comments:    16
Summary:The Government Accountability Office paid nineteen visits to chain tax preparers, presented information on two hypothetical families, and asked for assistance in preparing the tax return. "Only two returns showed the correct refund amount, but both of those returns included errors." The article goes into specifics of what sorts of mistakes were made. A Marketplace...

The Government Accountability Office paid nineteen visits to chain tax preparers, presented information on two hypothetical families, and asked for assistance in preparing the tax return. "Only two returns showed the correct refund amount, but both of those returns included errors." The article goes into specifics of what sorts of mistakes were made. A Marketplace report added that mistakes with tax credits were particularly bad because messing them up can render you ineligible for claiming them in the future.

Add to that the plans for the IRS to permit tax preparers sell information about their clients to marketers and the fact that major tax preparation firm H&R Block got its own taxes wrong [found a not-yet-404'd link - 2pm], and my decision to do my own taxes by hand doesn't seem so kooky after all, now, does it...

In other tax-day news, I will be heading to San Francisco on the 15th for a family event. I don't have a precise agenda, but I left time to be a tourist on Monday the 17th. I'll most likely take the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center tour at 10am, then head north to check out the Presidio (which was still a military base when I lived in the Bay Area). If you want to meet up, you can drop me a message today or tomorrow via the contact page. I won't be checking my email much while I'm away (that's why it's called a "vacation", see), but before I leave I'll set up my voicemail to forward to my mobile phone. Call Microsoft Corporate Headquarters, press "2", then say my name. (The voicemail lady will say, "Calling the office". Don't be alarmed.)

When talking to the voicemail lady, be careful to enunciate clearly, because there are also a Raymond Cheng and a Ray Chen at Microsoft. We get each other's stuff occasionally but it usually gets sorted out without too much trouble since we each work on completely different projects. (Bonus trivia: When Raymond Cheng first arrived at Microsoft, I was his mentor!)


Comments (16)
  1. Mat Hall says:

    It’s at this time of year I give thanks for PAYE…

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAYE

  2. Miles Archer says:

    Bring your raincoat.

  3. A regular viewer says:

    Lucky you! How come you get take so many vacations?

  4. You can take a lot of vacations if you make each one only one day long!

  5. 8 says:

    Please take a picture, for here: http://blogs.msdn.com/photos/default.aspx

    Would be awesome!

  6. Derek says:

    When talking to the voicemail lady, be careful to enunciate clearly, because there are also a Raymond Cheng and a Ray Chen at Microsoft. We get each other's stuff occasionally but it usually gets sorted out without too much trouble since we each work on completely different projects. (Bonus trivia: When Raymond Cheng first arrived at Microsoft, I was his mentor!)

    You taught him everything you know.  Now he’s stealing your identity!

    :0  <- Please note the face of horror.

  7. Gabe says:

    Gee, I wonder who Larry Ostermang’s mentor was…

  8. denis bider says:

    There’s no income tax on Turks & Caicos Islands. Yeee!

  9. boxmonkey says:

    When I first saw the title I was like: What the hell is a chain tax? And why are there people who specialize in chain taxes?

  10. Norman Diamond says:

    At least the chain tax preparers did their jobs more accurately than the tax departments themselves do.

  11. Michael Moulton says:

    Just another argument in favor of Fair Tax.  No tax preparation = no tax preparation mistakes.

  12. Daniel Berger says:

    I’d say that’s a rather damning indictment of the complexity of our tax code, more than a dig on chain tax preparers.

  13. mikeb says:

    Note that the survey only tested ‘non-certified’ preparers.  How much better (if at all) would certified preparers would fare?  I’m sure that even the IRS can’t get things 100% correct all the time, given how byzantine the tax code is.

  14. I never understand why people use paid preparers for any tax return that’s not enormously complicated.  It’s just an exercise in doing the right thing, based on a set of rules, for what’s already been done and can’t be changed.  

    The part where you want professional advice is the year *before*: where spend your money and where to put it, so that you can deduct the right things next year.

  15. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Comments are closed.


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