Tax Preparers Explained

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Tax Preparers Explained
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• Once you have your tax information up together
  with all the necessary paperwork and
  documentation, youre ready to start preparing
  your taxes. Some people choose to tackle this
  alone, while most seek professional help to
  ensure that they get the best from their money.
  So, who can you turn to when getting ready to
  prepare your taxes?
• Tax preparers
• In theory, anyone can help you prepare your taxes
  especially if they have access to tax software
  - but its always best to seek professional help
  and ideally

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• from someone who specializes in preparing taxes.
  If you find an official tax preparer, that
  individual must possess a Preparer Tax ID
  Number, or PTIN awarded by the IRS, and its best
  to ask for evidence of this before you enter into
  a paid contract with them.
• Enrolled Agents can help you to prepare your tax
  returns these are individuals who have been
  given the privilege of practicing before the IRS.
  They know how to prepare and file documents to
  meet IRS requirements, communicate with them on
  an official level and represent taxpayers in IRS
  matters such as audits. However, they are not
  permitted to represent you in tax court.

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• Certified Public Accountants or CPAs, are
  accounting professionals who have passed an exam
  that enables them to give licensed accounting and
  tax advice and guidance to both individuals and
  businesses. CPAs tend to specialize in certain
  areas, so its best to seek one who deals mainly
  with taxes if you want to use them to help you
  prepare yours.
• What exactly do they do?
• There are several roles that a professional tax
  preparer must fulfil along with the most obvious
  of which is to help you prepare your taxes

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• Be a tax advisor
• Tax preparers are also permitted and capable of
  serving as tax advisors, too, and they can help
  guide you with making all manner of tax related
  planning decisions.
• Represent you with the IRS
• If you get audited by the IRS, then your tax
  preparer should be able to represent you, both
  before the IRS and in tax court if necessary. Not
  every tax preparer will be able to do this, so
  its best to check beforehand and then select a
  preparer

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• who can represent you, otherwise youd have to
  hire another one should you be audited. It also
  makes the whole process a little simpler of the
  person who prepared your taxes, can be on hand to
  detail their work directly to the IRS.
• The final word on tax preparers
• It doesnt matter who you employ to help you
  prepare your taxes,ultimately, they are your
  responsibility and you must take ownership of the
  tax return and its accuracy and completeness. If
  there are errors or important information is
  omitted, you will be the one who pays the
  penalties, and while a reputable tax

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• preparer will minimize the risk of this
  happening, its wise to ensure that you select
  someone with proven credentials, to lower the
  chance of mistakes being made.
• At Heyer Associates, we proactively assist our
  individual and small business clients in meeting
  their goals. Our key area of focus is ensuring
  that our clients remain compliant with federal
  and state tax laws by providing them with high
  quality accounting and tax service Coral Gables.
  If you are looking for individual tax preparation
  in Miami, Heyer Associates would be a right
  option.