Officials Warn of Using “Ghost Accountants” to Prepare Taxes

Did you know you don’t need a license to prepare taxes in New Jersey? It’s unregulated, and anyone can prepare taxes without needing a specific license. You hear it all the time, “My mom does my taxes,” or “I can do my own taxes” or “I know a guy.” Additionally, Anyone can file a tax return allegedly on your behalf.

Most of us have no idea how to do it or are terrified that if we try we’ll get it wrong. The scariest thing about making a possible mistake is that you may not find out for years. One day you get that notification that you owe a lot of money to the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS doesn’t want you to get it wrong either when you prepare taxes. Nor do they want you to fall for tax scams that may lead to a similar unpleasant surprise.

The Internal Revenue Service and Security Summit have joined forces to make tax payers aware of several tax scams including what is called “Ghost Preparers.” These are bad actors who simply want to get the fee to prepare taxes and never follow through on their promise to do your taxes.

To make matters worse, you file a totally incorrect tax return, and the bad guys now have your personal financial information. Again, you may not learn of this for years and are left to figure out why you’ve been audited and your identity has been stolen.

The con men and women will also try to steal your refund after you’ve paid them to do so. They’ll create fake deductions or tax credits that enhance your refund, and then have your refund electronically sent into their account.

By the time you figure out that it’s a scam, the “ghosts” disappear leaving you to deal with the absolute nightmare of a problem.

It isn’t hard to find a reputable tax professional. The IRS suggests you “use a trusted tax professional, and IRS.gov has important information to help people choose a reputable, accredited practitioner.”

IRS Commissioner Addresses Ghost Preparers

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel says, “Ghost preparers and other shady return preparers form a real threat every tax season to well-meaning taxpayers.”  He continues, “We urge people to choose a trusted tax professional that will be around if questions arise later.” They’re not hard to find, there are about sixty thousand tax advisors in the country.

The IRS says that they have implemented “a variety of internal security measures to protect taxpayers” over the past decade. However, it’s ultimately up to the taxpayer to be diligent when hiring a tax preparer.

One of the things to look out for with “Ghost Tax Preparers” is that they fail to sign the return they prepare. Not only must they sign the return, they’re required to provide a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). If they refuse to sign or have an excuse for not having a PTIN, do not trust them.

It would help if you also looked out for strange service fees or requests for cash-only payment. If they base their fee on the amount of your refund or only accept cash, they’re waving a red flag.

Check the return to make sure they don’t change your income to boost your refund or make it look like you’re qualified for a tax credit that you’re not.

The IRS also warns, “Taxpayers should also be wary of a tax preparer attempting to convince them to deposit the taxpayer’s refund in their bank account rather than the taxpayer’s account.

One more warning, never hire a “preparer who e-files a tax return using a pay stub instead of a Form W-2.” It’s against the IRS e-file rules.

If you have any questions the IRS says to visit IRS.gov.

WalletHub has released its 2022’s Property Taxes by State. New Jersey was ranked as the state with the highest real-estate property taxes for 2022.

The personal finance website's report compares home and vehicle taxes across the nation and features insights from a panel of experts.

WalletHub analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of real-estate and vehicle property taxes. Scroll below to view the full list.

Property Taxes in New Jersey (1^st=Lowest; 25^th=Avg.):

Click here to view the WalletHub 2022 study.

2.49%
$8,362

2.27%
$4,419

2.18%
$5,701

2.14%
$5,898

1.90%
$4,329

1.85%
$3,344

1.80%
$3,099

1.73%
$2,689

1.72%
$5,407

1.63%
$4,272

1.58%
$2,852

1.57%
$2,315

1.56%
$2,271

1.54%
$2,381

1.41%
$2,137

1.36%
$2,585

1.31%
$2,195

1.23%
$4,679

1.19%
$3,231

1.12%
$2,500

1.09%
$3,430

0.98%
$1,906

0.98%
$3,326

0.97%
$1,526

0.97%
$3,037

0.92%
$1,623

0.90%
$1,228

0.89%
$1,914

0.86%
$1,210

0.85%
$1,207

0.84%
$1,454

0.84%
$1,928

0.82%
$2,234

0.81%
$958

0.80%
$1,371

0.76%
$3,818

0.71%
$1,190

0.69%
$1,456

0.66%
$1,499

0.63%
$1,748

0.62%
$798

0.61%
$1,337

0.60%
$1,614

0.58%
$698

0.57%
$924

0.57%
$1,431

0.56%
$3,378

0.55%
$890

0.51%
$1,756

0.41%
$587

0.28%
$1,715