More than a third of us hire tax preparers or tax advisors who help us in filing our tax returns, as per Nerd Wallet survey but rarely any of us know much about them. If you’re looking for an American CPA at Israel, you can take a look at Philip Stein CPA as they have the best CPAs who are working in Israel and helping both businesses and individuals. Did you know that a research reveals that 80% of the people and businesses which use tax preparers never asked the CPA’s credentials? Hiring a tax preparer will mean sharing all sorts of financial details from everything like your income, marriage, bank accounts and also your SS number. Here are few tips in case you wish to find the best ones.
#1: Ask for a tax identification number of the preparer
The IRS will need anyone who prepares or assists in preparing federal tax returns in lieu of compensation to have a PTIN. Here you have to pay attention to the phrase ‘for compensation’ and hence volunteer preparers won’t require PTINs. Hence you too have to ensure that your income tax preparer puts his PTIN number of your return and the IRS also wants to see that too.
#2: Watch out for friends in higher places
You have to look for membership in a professional organization like the National Association of Tax Professionals, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Enrolled Agents or the American Academy of Attorney CPAs. These are always good things to have as most of them have ethics, different certification programs and professional conduct requirements.
#3: Compare and contrast their fees
How much do the CPAs charge you for their services? The usual fee for preparing an income tax return which includes an itemized Form 1040 along with a Schedule A and a state tax return was $274 in 2016 as per National Society of Accountants. Legal tax preparers charge by the hour and hence if you’ve come across someone whose fee is based on the size of the refund, these are nothing but red flags to be aware of.
#4: Reconsider those who don’t file online
As per what the IRS requires, any paid preparer who deals with more than 10 tax returns for clients should file electronically through the e-file system of IRS. In case the tax preparer doesn’t offer e-file, this might be a sign that the tax preparer is not trustworthy.
Therefore, if you’re wondering about finding a CPA, you can take into account the above mentioned points into consideration.
