Making the decision on whether to hire a tax preparation service in Manhattan is serious business which if done wrong could place you and the tax preparer behind bars. Many people look to hire the cheapest person available to do their taxes for them, and wind up paying with felony convictions on a Federal Level.
There are many businesses out there today that try very hard to provide cheap tax preparation service, and they usually are breaking the law during this time. For example; a New Jersey man who prepared hundreds of fraudulent returns for innocent citizens was recently sentenced to six years in Federal Prison.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, On May 14, 2008, in Newark, N.J., Romanus Okorie was sentenced to 72 months in prison for filing fraudulent tax returns on behalf of numerous New Jersey residents resulting in a loss to the government in excess of $2.5 million. He was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and was prohibited from working as a tax preparer for three years following his release from prison.
On Jan. 22, 2008, a jury had convicted Okorie of 10 counts of will fully preparing materially false tax returns. Evidence presented at trial showed that more than 100 clients were audited, and the total tax loss based on the audited returns exceeded $1 million. The government presented further evidence that in 2003 Okorie prepared approximately 250, and in 2004 close to 300, tax returns, all but one generating a refund. The government estimated that the actual tax loss for the returns prepared by Okorie — more than 600 — exceeded $4 million.
It doesn’t just happen in the TriState area either. In North Carolina a professional tax return prepared was sentenced to 70 months behind bars for similar crimes committed.
Lloyd Anthony Bast field, a professional tax return preparer for approximately 18 years, was sentenced to 70 months in prison and ordered to pay $6 million in restitution. Bast field pleaded guilty in April 2007 to conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns claiming nearly $6 million in false claims for refunds for individuals between 2001 and 2005, and evading over $171,000 in personal income taxes owed by him for the years 2000 through 2004. According to a Bill of Information, Bast field admitted that between 2001 and 2005, he prepared and electronically filed more than 10,000 fraudulent income tax returns for individual clients which claimed false and fictitious education income tax credits. All of this information was verified by the Internal Revenue Service.
With the Federal Government having financial issues of its own, they are spending more money and time to find out and prosecute people who falsely file taxes themselves and on behalf of others. This is why selecting a company who will prepare your taxes ethically above all is more critical today than it ever has been before.
So, what do you look for in an ethical tax preparation Manhattan?
* Find out if the preparer is affiliated with a professional organization that provides its members with continuing education and resources and holds them to a code of ethics.
* Ask friends and family whether they know anyone who has used the tax professional and whether they were satisfied with the service they received.
* Reputable pre parers will ask to see receipts and will ask multiple questions to determine whether expenses, deductions and other items qualify. By doing so, they are trying to help their clients avoid penalties, interest or additional taxes that could result from an IRS examination.
Above all, make sure that if you choose a tax preparation service in Manhattan, they fight for your legal rights above all.
With the IRS cracking down on fraudulent income tax preparation Manhattan and across the US, finding a company who can prepare your taxes honestly and afford ably is becoming more difficult. Thankfully the team at have years of audit-proof returns filed and fight for honesty above a few pennies illegally.
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