I'm going to try to make this as brief as possible.
Because of multiple complicated reasons that happened to me in 2017, I couldn't figure out how to do my taxes by myself. So for the first time, I decided to hire an accountant. I found a great firm, reputable, great reviews, called and scheduled an appointment. I've paid him about $600 to do and file my taxes for me.
When he was done, I went to the office to review before filing. I found so many mistakes (including my name) that I stayed in their office for over 2 hours pulling up all the information I had previously given them again and fixing everything.
When all was said and done, I owed about 1000 for federal and 2000 for state. Because of remote work, I was also owed a refund from another state for 1500.
I gave him my bank account information. Told him I could pay the 1000 for federal but needed to do a payment plan for the 2000 unless I receive the 1500 refund first, which I would use to pay off my state taxes.
He said, no problem, he'll follow up with me about the payment plan amounts. I leave. We're done.
A few days later, he calls me stating that while filing my taxes, he's so sorry, but instead of clicking "payment plan" he clicked "make full payment." He's apologetic and asks me what I'm going to do. I tell him I'll definitely overdraft and will have to move some money around to try to survive until my refund comes through. He offers to front me the money as a loan (didn't sit well with me) until the refund comes through. I say, no thank you, let's just see what happens.
Days later, I find that nothing was pulled from my bank account. I call him to make sure everything has been processed. He confirms, says not to worry, these things can take some time.
Weeks later, nothing was pulled. I knew in my gut something was wrong. I call again, all his phone lines are shut off.
I make some calls to the IRS, go online to try to check my status but there's a ton of roadblocks in confirming my identity for some reason so I couldn't get very far.
A few days later, I receive a letter from the IRS claiming that my payment for my federal taxes didn't go through because my bank account information was entered incorrectly and that I now owed a late penalty. I immediately go online and pay it all off.
I call my accountant again, phones turned off.
At this point I had a family emergency and needed to travel for a few weeks and had to put this on hold.
After coming home, I finally get a letter a couple of days ago from my state claiming that my 2000 payment didn't go through because my bank account information was entered incorrectly and owe almost $150 in late penalty fees.
I call my accountant's office. Someone finally picks up, says he's available. But as soon as I said my name, all of a sudden my accountant was too busy to speak with me. Haven't gotten a call back yet.
I'm at my wits' end. He's been so unprofessional and made so many huge mistakes. I'm planning on just showing up to his office and talking to him directly. But before I do, I want to get some advice.
Do I even have any options here? Is he under any obligation to compensate me for all this trouble? I've never been late paying my taxes and am worried this could affect me negatively somehow.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
Submitted June 01, 2018 at 12:07PM by itaintthatuniqueson https://ift.tt/2Hd5l0l
