Risk of calculating taxes in different places

Go with one tax service company or many

Some taxpayers try to save on tax preparation fees by searching for the cheapest offer they can find in their area. They go from one tax services company to another in order to get a better deal or discount. Many of them accept tax services from any tax preparation firm or self-employed tax preparer if they can find someone really cheap. On one hand, it is understandable that everyone want to spend as less money on tax service fees as possible. However, no one should neglect at what price it might cost you later. When most tax services organizations are honest and perform their due diligence by keeping clients confidential information safe, but there are few of those who are not that trustworthy and might even steal your identity which make it risky to migrate from one place to the other and share your confidential information with everybody.

As the matter of fact, the identity might be stolen not even on purpose but because of reckless behavior of a tax preparer who simply forgot to lock the drawer with all the customers’ confidential information or left documents on table where janitors or other employees have an access to it. If you will have problems because of that then for you it wouldn’t make any difference whether it was done on purpose or recklessly. Therefore, it is wise to choose not only among good deals, but among safety and reasonableness as well.

Calculate taxes in one place or go from one tax preparation firm to another

Clients whether they like it or not have to share with a tax preparer their confidential information. These data should be properly stored and protected for some period of time as the IRS requires or shredded if it is not needed any longer. Even if you migrated from one place to the other in order to find a better tax services or cheaper price and nothing ever happen to you there is no guaranty that it will be like that forever. The good chances are that your identity might be stolen even after you stop accepting their services and do not go to them for many years. The tax service companies store clients’ documentation for about 7 years and even longer. Therefore, if you stick with only one tax service company and something happen with your confidential information at least you will know whom to blame for that.

Whether it is worthwhile to switch if you did not like the tax services you received

Before considering switching the tax services company it is usually better to at least try to resolve the issue. For example, if you get used to one tax preparer and the next year the person quit working for the company and you had a bad experience because someone new did your taxes. You might want to ask a tax preparer about his / her experience before even letting this person start on your taxes. Other thing is if you don’t see your old tax preparer you can ask an office manager to calculate your estimated refund for you.