The First Step To Get Control Over Your Taxes

Worcester, MA, July 2012:  According to a recent report issued by the General Accounting Office, taxpayers overpay the IRS almost $1 billion every year due to incorrect itemization and preparation. Local tax professional Jay Walia regularly sees, and must clean up, damage caused by poorly prepared taxes.

“What’s worse is that those who prepare their own taxes, with a software, or on their own, are the most vulnerable... And taxpayers who used one of the ‘big chain’ preparers are almost as bad off,” Walia said.

An excerpt from an additional report from the GAO (United States Government Accountability Office), In a Limited Study, Chain Preparers Made Serious Errors:

“In GAO visits to commercial preparers, paid preparers often prepared returns that were incorrect, with tax consequences that were sometimes significant... Some of the most serious problems involved preparers

• Not reporting business income in 10 of 19 cases;
• ...Failing to take the most advantageous post-secondary education tax benefit in 3 out of the 9 applicable cases; and
• Failing to itemize deductions at all or failing to claim all available deductions in 7 out of the 9 applicable cases.”

• The 19 paid preparers we visited arrived at the correct refund amount only twice. On 5 returns, all for the plumber, they understated our refund amount by a total of $3,465.
• All 19 of our visits to tax return preparers affiliated with chains showed problems. Nearly all of the returns prepared for us were incorrect to some degree, and several of the preparers gave us very bad tax advice, particularly when it came to reporting non-W-2 business income.

Contact Information

Jay Walia

CEO

Accounting Solutions, Inc

(1) (508) 753-3532

jwalia@cbsasi.com