I have had my small tax business since 2003; and over the years I’ve retained more clients than I lost. I’m glad to know that of the clients lost, most of them were due to my straight, by-the-book, no-nonsense approach to income tax preparation. My goal has been and will always be three-fold:
- To provide the best customer service possible (even now that most of my work is done virtually)
- To keep my prices affordable for low-to-middle income taxpayers
- To follow tax laws, keeping my clients and myself on the “good” side of the IRS
Some clients have gone elsewhere or used some of the self-service products just so they can get bigger refunds. And I wish them the best. My legal advisor always says: “I don’t fight dirty and don’t want money from clients who want to fight dirty.”
I agree whole-heartedly!
Here’s a news story about a Modesto man who was recently sentenced to jail and ordered to pay restitutions for tax fraud. Anyone who sticks with me will never find themselves in this predicament.
Modesto man sentenced for tax fraud – Bee Staff Reports July 21, 2014
A Modesto man on Monday was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for conspiring to submit false claims to the Internal Revenue Service, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Heath Lee Roberson, 39, also was ordered to pay more than $66,000 in restitution to the IRS.
According to court documents, from December 2010 to May 2011, Roberson and a co-defendant obtained personal identifying information from more than 40 individuals, used the information to generate false tax returns and submitted them to the IRS.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Michael G. Tierney prosecuted the case.