In order to do your taxes you hand over a lot of personal information. First and foremost you want to choose someone you can trust.
- Some good questions to ask would be:
- What do you do with my personal information, how many people or companies have access to it, and do you sell it?
- What is your background like as far as work experience and education and how does that relate to taxes?
- What type of credentials or license do you have?
A professional will love to elaborate on these and answer your questions. Someone who dodges these questions should not be doing your taxes.
The IRS website also has a new feature of a Preparer Directory where you can look up a preparer and confirm their credentials. See this link.
Sincerely,
