The deadline to file your federal taxes is just days away. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says if you’re using a tax preparation service, make sure that person has credentials. Grassley says if you get a hair cut, the person cutting your hair has to pass exams and become certified, but the person who’s preparing your taxes may have no qualifications.
Grassley says “The most that a barber can do is to make you have a bad hair day, but a tax preparer who’s not qualified can get you audited, make you owe thousands of dollars to the government, and in a worse-case scenario, could even cause you to be thrown into jail.”
Grassley, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is holding a hearing today (Tuesday) to look at abuses by tax preparers. He says in some cases, preparers provide bad advice to taxpayers, while in other cases, they take advantage of the taxpaying consumers. Grassley says tax preparers should get better training, certification and should be subject to ethical guidelines for practice before the I-R-S.
He has a “good government bill” pending before Congress that would address several tax preparer-related issues, but additional issues brought forward at the hearing could be added to the bill.