It may seem counterintuitive, but it has been proven that paying a professional to handle your taxes can actually save you money in the long run. Alex Zorab knows that first hand. As a certified public accountant and partner at First American Tax Services in Chicago, he helps countless clients save money on their personal income taxes by taking the proper deductions and credits to which they are entitled each year.
Federal and state tax laws are changing every year, and hiring a professional tax preparer who understands what all of these new changes and nuances are is the only way to make sure you are claiming every deduction that you are eligible for each year. Without an accountant on your side, there is almost no way any individual person could be aware of every tax deduction or credit that is available from year to year — especially since they change so frequently.
Even if you learned about every single tax deduction that was available last year, that still would not help you file an accurate tax return this year, simply because the tax code changes are enacted by Congress each year and they change so quickly. Thankfully, certified public accountants, such as myself, are always aware of the latest changes to the tax laws—we’re required to be.
The next big reason I would advise people to hire an accountant to handle their taxes is because accountants like myself are aware of all the expenses that people typically overlook or don’t pay attention to when they are filling out their own IRS forms. Obviously, everyone wants to avoid an audit if at all possible. But only CPAs know exactly which financial thresholds people should not go over if they want to avoid sending any red flags to the IRS.
Working with a qualified CPA should provide you peace of mind in knowing that he will let you know if the expenses you have submitted seem exaggerated or overstated. If they are, then the IRS will pick up on this, and it’s better to find this information out from a CPA who is on your side than from an IRS auditor who has selected your taxes for investigation. So working with a CPA in that regard won’t just save you money, it will save you headache and heartache and hopefully prevent you from getting a visit from the IRS, too.
Of course people aren’t just saving money when they visit an accountant to have their taxes prepared, they are potentially saving themselves a lot of time, as well. When you go to an accountant, he knows exactly what he needs from you and all the specific questions that need to be asked. By pinpointing the expenses and documents that need to be submitted right away, a professional tax preparer should hopefully be saving clients a great deal of time.
I hear from a lot of people who think that doing their taxes using the software that’s available will save them money and time. But just think about how much time is wasted if you can’t find a specific document or you aren’t sure about the answer to one specific question. Without a professional there to answer your queries and guide you through the process, you could spend hours searching for the answers online—only to be directed to an outdated piece of information that leads you to the incorrect answer, anyway.
When you work with an accountant, you don’t have to worry about any of that. When you schedule an appointment with a CPA, he will tell you the exact pieces of paperwork that you need to bring to your appointment. He will look at the documentation you have brought in and be able to pinpoint the sources of your income to you directly, in a straightforward manner that doesn’t involve you visually scanning each piece of paperwork looking for which box has the right figure in it.
CPAs know exactly which items are deductible and which are not each year, which can save you money by not trying to deduct an item that is not allowed, as well. It is nearly impossible for an individual to understand all the particular nuances of tax code changes each year. So the only way that you can possibly get all the tax credits and deductions that you qualify for is by having an accountant do your taxes for you.
When you aren’t wasting time searching, reading, and starting the process of collecting your tax information, you have more free time to spend doing whatever it is you want — working, reading, exercising, or anything else. That’s why when you work with a qualified CPA, you aren’t just saving money )although you are saving that as well), but you are also saving yourself time and anxiety through the entire tax process, as well.
