What Your Accountant Should and Should Not be Doing for You

“My accountant takes care of my taxes” are the 7 most expensive words in the English language, is what Sandy Botkin, head of the Maryland-based Tax Reduction Institute (TRI) and former IRS tax attorney likes to jokingly say in his national tax reduction seminars. He’s right, of course. Letting your accountant take care of your taxes is costing you big time.
Meet Joe Barcone.  Joe is probably a lot like you.  Every year at tax time, he gathers his pay stubs, receipts and other important documents and heads to the accountant.  And why not?  Isn’t Joe’s accountant paid to figure out how best to save Joe the most money on April 15?  Actually, he’s not.
If you’re like Joe, you’re no different than thousands of Americans who believe their accountant takes care of their taxes — and it’s costing you more money than you ever dreamed possible.
Why?  First of all, accountants are not always up to date on current tax laws (even though they should be).  Second, an accountant may make a bad decision concerning your taxes when specific tax laws are left open to interpretation.  Third, if you see your accountant during tax season, when he or she is usually under a time constraint, they may make errors or omit important information that could save you thousands of dollars.
But the biggest reason why it may be costing you more to rely on your accountant than you think is because an accountant will usually err on the side of conservatism when it comes to deductions.  That’s because they want to avoid the severe IRS penalties that they will incur if they wrongfully counsel their clients. This protects their own pocketbook, but not usually yours.  In addition, an accountant cannot keep track of your life as well as you can.  It’s your responsibility to be sure you’re not wasting money on excessive taxes. 
What?  It’s my responsibility? 
Yup. You probably don’t believe it’s your doctor’s job to take care of your health, right?  You don’t think you can eat all the fattening foods you want and then ask your doctor to clean out your arteries every year.  So why should you believe it’s your accountant’s job to take care of your tax bill?
Of course it is important to employ professional service providers who can assist you in your efforts to save valuable tax dollars.  But relying solely on these providers is foolish.  Now is the time to learn the rules so you can save the most money.  Remember, your accountant is only as good as you are!
For information on how to save tax dollars, contact www.taxreductioninstitute.com or contact the experts at Money Mastery today, (801) 292-1099.