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How am I supposed to approach reviewing draft returns that a CPA has prepared for me? I hired a CPA for the first time because my tax situation has gotten far too complicated for me. Specifically federal employee income in Puerto Rico and rental income elsewhere, so PR, US, and a state return. PR tax law seems quite different, and I don't understand a lot of the calculations going on in the draft returns, especially with regard to the interplay of PR/US taxes and the corresponding foreign income tax credits, etc. But how am I really reviewing anything if it's beyond my understanding? That's why I paid for a CPA in the first place. I've looked through it line by line, checked that there isn't missing income or anything bizarre on it's face. What is the CPA's obligation vs. my own? I did have questions about how the CPA is calculating depreciation on the rental property. It looked like a large deduction, and it seems like he took a number from the county assessor that includes both building and land. A few hours of googling has brought me up to speed enough to know that it's supposed to be just the building. I'm inquiring with him about whether it's correct, but the potential issue makes me nervous. If a CPA hypothetically screws something up on my return, like used the wrong cost basis for depreciation, does the IRS still drop the hammer on me just the same? Short of hiring a second CPA to double check the first or teaching myself the relevant tax laws, I don't know what I don't know.
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Mar 18, 2021 01:49
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Epi Lepi posted:The rental depreciation sounds weird to me. He should have been getting the cost basis from you, not the assessor unless you have no idea what the cost basis because you inherited it or something. Land does not get depreciated, but you do need to show it on the return. The depreciation should be the value divided by 27.5 years if residential or 39 if commercial. I mean, if you made some major improvements this year he may be taking bonus depreciation but I would usually ask you if you want to elect it or not if you were my client. Thanks. I'll guess I'll just bug the CPA more about the issue if he doesn't give me a proper explanation. The property was converted into a rental two years ago after I lived there as a primary residence for five years. Is the cost basis based on my original purchase or value at the time it became a rental? How would I go about figuring out the cost basis for the building? Is the tax assessment value not relevant? I talked to the CPA briefly by phone last year when I first hired him, and it's just email since then. The call was a pretty basic discussion of my situation. I wouldn't say we "vibed." We've never discussed details of the rental, other than me just sending him the info I have on my expenses.
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Mar 18, 2021 15:18
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My CPA has been telling me that he hasn't submitted my state and federal returns yet because of a technical "error" on his side. He says that he's trying to contact IRS to get it sorted out but hasn't gotten anywhere. We've been in this limbo for like a month now. The CPA said they if he can't get it figured out soon he'll probably have to file paper returns... How hosed am I on getting my returns if this happens? I'm moving states in a few months, so I expect that I'll somehow never get my (substantial) returns if we go down this path. Last year he "forgot" to include my direct deposit info for the fed return, so it was via check. Does this "error" thing even make sense? I don't know wtf is going on with this guy. Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Apr 20, 2021 |
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Apr 20, 2021 16:21
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Excellent, thank you
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Apr 20, 2021 19:21
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My federal return has been pending processing for 12 weeks now. I have to move soon, and i think my accountant hosed up again and didn't input my direct deposit info on the return. Besides submitting a USPS change of address, is there anything I need to do with the IRS to ensure that the refund check is mailed to the correct new address?
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Jul 13, 2021 15:05
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For anyone still waiting, my federal return was finally processed! Now to wait for them to undoubtedly mail the check to the old address that i tried in vain to correct, wait a month for it to not get forwarded, and then start the process over again... I wouldn't be so antsy if it weren't so very unreasonably large because my withholding was hosed up all year.
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Sep 5, 2021 00:25
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Peyote Panda posted:Have you checked with your local Post Office to find out what their policy is? Some will forward your treasury check if you have mail forwarding in place, others will not. That does help thank you. I had asked at the local PO before moving and the people I talked to had no idea, so I'll just see what happens. How do you check an account transcript? Through the online IRS account?
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Sep 7, 2021 14:48
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My taxes were prepared by a CPA. A state is now saying that there was a mathematical error and that I owe a bunch of money. I suspect that the state is wrong and that it can be sorted out. I can't say for sure, because it's a complicated situation involving foreign tax credit that is beyond me, which is why I hired a CPA in the first place. Is it expected that the CPA would work to fix this dispute as something within the scope of the tax preparation I already paid for? Either he made an error or he can prove to the state that he didn't. I'm reaching out to the guy, but I wanted to gauge what the usual professional practice is in case he asks me for more money etc. I'm kinda stuck with the CPA either way at this point, because the letter saying I have 60 days to appeal the decision somehow arrived 55 days after it was "issued." I'm just hoping he can make the deadline. This is the first stressful tax issue I've had, so I'm nervous to see what happens. Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Oct 27, 2021 |
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Oct 27, 2021 03:57
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PatMarshall posted:States don't generally give any credit for foreign taxes, so that might be the issue. Anyway, yes I would usually work to resolve disputes within the terms of the original engagement, but if it progresses to appeals or tax court, obviously that would be out of scope. incogneato posted:State tax agencies vary wildly, but if this were with the IRS I would say: You or your CPA should contact the agency in some form before the deadline runs out, even if just to say that you are working with your CPA on a response and requesting more time. At least with the IRS, ignoring something or complete lack of response is almost always a bad idea. Thank you. I will try to get something filed via the CPA. I said "State" for simplicity, but it's actually the territory of Puerto Rico, which has a unique tax authority. You get credit for federal taxes paid and vice versa, and they label it a foreign tax credit even though it's not really foreign. The tax situation in PR and it's relationship to the mainland can get very complicated and is hard for me to understand.
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Oct 27, 2021 18:37
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So my previous CPA seems to be be ghosting me, and I haven't heard from him in months despite contacting him every couple weeks. I only care because he was supposedly handling an outstanding tax dispute for my state (PR) taxes from last year (my previous posts were about this). I just wanted some kind of status update to know if it's still in progress, resolved, if I'm hosed, etc., so I'm kind of weirded out that he won't respond. At this point I'm just hoping the guy didn't fail to take any timely action and is trying to dodge me to avoid trouble. I'll keep trying, but needless to say that I'm not enthusiastic about using him again for 2021 taxes. Is there anything special to know about hiring a new CPA's services in these circumstances, since as far as I know the 2020 issue is unresolved and may or may not still be handled by the previous CPA (who filed the return)? Do I just inform them of where things stand and give them the returns from last year?
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Jan 12, 2022 23:59
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Need advice: I'm having an issue with a CPA i used for taxes the last few years. There are lingering issues with my "state" (Puerto Rico) taxes. My previous posts in the thread touched on those and i hoped it had been straightened out. The CPA originally said that the state had made an error and that he'd be able to resolve a tax dispute for a small fee, but he has apparently decided to ghost me. he hasn't responded to numerous calls and emails over the last 10 months. He'd always been slow and late responding to me, but now it's just nothing. He has a small office and I've left messages for him with his staff to no avail. I paid my bills every year, said I'd pay for the needed service in question, and have been professional in my communications, so I'm not sure what his deal is. The issue is that the state tax authority claims i owe them $26k. This is in addition to the ~$5k that they supposedly still owed me from the past two year's refunds. I had received a tax notice of an "error" a year ago for my 2020 return. before he went dark, the CPA said that it was a clear mistake on the state's part that he would need to clear up via an in person hearing, for the cost of $125. Ok, good, fine. All of my emails since then were asking the timeline for that action, and then.... Nothing. Zero response. Of course, i recently learned that the state found issues with my 2021 return, probably for related reasons, but i can't get any details on the issue. I've moved back to the mainland, so while I won't be filing PR taxes anymore, i don't know what the state tax authority might be able to do to collect or negatively impact me. Again, the CPA said that the state's calculation was in error, so it's driving me insane that this is just hanging out there unresolved. Not to mention that they might owe me $5k in refunds, although that feels like a lost cause at this point. If I lived on the island still, I'd be showing up constantly in person demanding attention. All forms of communication from afar appear to have failed. Can I hire another CPA to address this? I contacted someone a while back who only said that they couldn't get involved about an alleged error for another CPA's filing. Should I try to report him to a licensing entity? I looked into the PR CPA bar but can't find anything on this topic. Should I contact an attorney to hassle the CPA into action? What kind of attorney would be appropriate for this issue? Should I first send him a letter threatening legal action? Since he still needs to represent me in front of the tax authority, i had been trying in vain to avoid making this adversarial. Basically, i want the lingering tax issue resolved and to never interact with this guy again. Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Dec 13, 2022 |
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Dec 13, 2022 05:30
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PatMarshall posted:Yes, you should hire another tax pro in PR to handle this. I wouldn't bother trying to sue over 125 USD. I don't care about the $125. The issue is the state coming after me for $26k in erroneous debt due to the accountant's negligence. Hopefully i can find a CPA who wants to get involved. Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 02:21 on Dec 14, 2022 |
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Dec 14, 2022 02:18
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