The year I discovered the difference between a Tax Preparer and a Tax Advisor was back in 2002 when Brandy and I were both teaching.
Up until that point, I had always prepared my own taxes. However, in 2001 Brandy and I had just bought our first home, and we wanted to make sure that we were doing things correctly, so we decided to go to someone to prepare our returns. Being the teacher that I was, I worked on our return the night before in order to compare how well I did when we met with the preparer the next day. I guess I was hoping he would give me a good grade!
The next day when we had our one and only appointment, I was shocked to discover that he came up with a smaller refund than I did on my own the night before. He had me getting a smaller refund by a couple hundred dollars! Add in the fact that I had to pay for his services, and I was just a little frustrated. So, again like a good teacher, I had to gracefully and tactfully show him his mistakes and together we got the same refund I came up with the night before. Unfortunately, I was still out the money I had to pay him.
To say that I was frustrated would be an understatement. Brandy and I felt like we were being rushed throughout the appointment, the preparer missed many deductions that I was able to find on my own, and I was going to pay him to get a lesser refund than I got on my own.
To further add to my frustration, when I asked him about what we could do to lower our taxes for the future, he pretty much said we were doing all we could. I knew this couldn’t be true!
This is when I began to realize that there is a major difference between a tax preparer and a Tax Advisor. This was one of several events that started my journey of getting the information, knowledge, and training I needed to minimize my income taxes. Little did I know at the time this experience would also one day help my future clients.
It has become somewhat of a mission of mine to find all the deductions and credits that I can for my clients.
If you have ever felt the same way as Brandy and I did back in 2002, please feel free to email me or comment below and share your story. I guarantee you are not alone!
If you’d like to see if you are getting all the deductions to which you are entitled, and would like to lower your income tax liability, please feel free to contact me anytime.