Fraudulent tax return preparers are back!
Tips On How To Avoid Fraudulent Tax Preparers
With this being tax season, the Federal Justice Department urges the public to look out for and avoid fraudulent tax preparers who illegally swindle both their clients and the federal treasury. Below are some tips that may seem obvious and others that may not seem so obvious.
- Look for a PTIN. The IRS requires that all paid tax preparers register with the IRS and obtain a preparer tax identification number (PTIN).
- Never allow your refund to be deposited directly into a tax preparer’s bank account. Courts have barred such a practice.
- Never sign a blank return or a return without fully reading it from beginning to end first.
- Never allow your tax preparer to mischaracterize expenses. By this, I mean that you should never allow personal purchases to be wrongly characterized as deductible expenses.
- Never allow your tax preparer to fabricate expenses or deductions. Some common ones are the educational credit, the child care credit or the earned income tax credit.
- eFile. The eFiling method is considered the safest and most reliable.
- Look for professional credentials or listings with the Better Business Bureau in choosing
A perfect example of the benefits of reviewing your estate planning documents on, at least, an occasional level, can be seen with the marital revocable living trust, also sometimes known as an “A-B” trust. Should you have such a document, and if it was prepared long ago and never updated, it is probably set up to accomplish exactly the OPPOSITE of what you want it to do.
Should an individual with special needs receive a large sum of money, it is often wise to have the individual or his/her fiduciary establish a special needs trust in order to not jeopardize assistance already being received such as Medicaid or SSI. Should a parent or grandparent wish to provide funds to a special needs individual and not jeopardize assistance being received, a special needs trust may also be a good idea. However, before embarking on such an endeavor, it is critical to understand the different types of special needs trusts and their requirements or else risk losing the benefits already being received.
In 2013, in United States v, Windsor, the U.S. Supreme Court found Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional. Section 3 defined “marriage” as a legal union between one man and one woman and “spouse” as only a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife. The Court’s decision meant that married same-sex couples must be treated under federal law as married opposite-sex couples.
While it has always been a great responsibility to serve as a legal guardian for another individual, last year Ohio imposed a number of additional requirements of guardians in an effort to protect the welfare and safety of those wards to whom they serve. These protections are both financial and personal.
For those receiving long-term care services, Ohio’s Medicaid program has always had a monthly income limit. In 2016, that limit is $2,199 per month. However, until now, Ohio was a spenddown state, which meant that as long as the individual spent down each month on monthly expenses below the income threshold, the individual would be eligible to receive Medicaid services. Effective July 1, 2016, no one will be able to spend down to meet the monthly income threshold, but will need to deposit any excess income into a Qualified Income Trust (QIT) to become eligible for Medicaid coverage.
Many people do not understand the distinctions between how one titles one’s assets and the resulting repercussions from it. Properly titling one’s assets can greatly increase the effectiveness of one’s estate plan. Some of these distinctions are described below: