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Show Taxpayers who have their returns prepared by someone else should seek an honest, ethical tax preparer, Roland V. Wise, District Director of Internal Revenue for Utah, said today. "WHILE MOST tax return preparers are extremely reputable, competent, and honest," Mr. Wise observed, "a small percentage of preparers do a great dis-ser-vice to the remainder of the profession by misrepresenting misrepresent-ing both themselves and the nature of the federal tax return. re-turn. "Choosing a tax return preparer is important because, no matter who fills out the return, the ultimate responsibility for the accuracy ac-curacy of a taxpayer's return remains with the taxpayer." TAXPAYERS should be wary of trusting a preparer who hints that he or she has a special relationship with the IRS or has a special tie-in to IRS computers, Mr. Wise warned. Likewise, according to the District Director, taxpayers should avoid preparers who "guarantee" refunds, want a percentage of the refund, claim to "know all the angles," or present misleading mislead-ing claims on the number of taxpayers-prepared returns that err in the Government's favor. MR. WISE urged taxpayers to follow these four guidelines when dealing with a tax preparer: Never sign a blank return; never sign a return prepared in pencil since it might be changed later; never permit the tax refund to be mailed directly to a tax preparer; and insist that the preparer sign the return. "Our concern is that the taxpayer have some idea of ethical practices and that dishonest tax preparers get the message that unethical tax practice will not be tolerated by the IRS," the District Director concluded. |