4 Important Qualities to Look for in your Tax Professional
Right when you think you understand tax law, rules and regulations change for the upcoming filing season. Keeping up with these changes can feel like a full time job on top of your other financial and business responsibilities. If you overlook a rule or calculate your taxes incorrectly, you may find yourself on the hook for unexpected payments and penalties. Luckily, you can leave the tax paperwork and calculations to the pros to eliminate stress during the filing season and beyond. When sourcing a tax preparation professional, it is important to look for the following four key qualities.
Knowledge
Your selected team of tax professionals should have a strong working knowledge of past and current IRS rules and regulations. Demonstrating a high level of expertise for current tax codes gives these professionals an edge over the competition when applying changes announced for the upcoming year. Look for professionals with a background in individual, corporate, non-profit and small business taxes for the best mix of knowledge about tax filing procedures.
Experience
Even with the best schooling possible, tax professionals heavily lean on past experience to help their clients take the best credits and deductions for their situation. Your tax professionals should have at least ten years of experience in this ever-changing industry. Beyond tax preparation, experience should revolve around general accounting, tax planning and business mapping in the individual, corporate and non-profit fields. Verify that your tax pro attends continuing education courses to stay updated with industry changes in law and technique.
Reliability
Since financial changes can occur year round and without notice, you must enlist tax professionals prepared to reliably make changes on the fly. Your tax professional should strive to create tight bonds with all clients to provide the best level of service possible. Demonstration of a high level of character in all interactions helps prove reliability well before you need to lean on your tax pros for assistance.
Trustworthiness
You must be able to trust your tax professionals with sensitive financial information about your personal and professional life. Tax professionals should show integrity in every client interaction by keeping information confidential and always using it appropriately to reduce tax debt. Double check all tax planning and processing recommendations at first to verify that your chosen tax professional has your best interests at heart through every step of the process.
Obtaining Personalized Service
For all of these qualities and more, you can turn to tax professionals at The Income Tax Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Our tax professionals always provide personalized service in planning, processing and filing your quarterly or yearly tax documents. Our team can work with the IRS to relieve tax burdens and find a solution to high debt levels. We will always strive to help our clients reduce or eliminate tax debt using our knowledge of the law and proven calculation techniques in MO.
