This is tangentially related to RE. We hired a CPA to do our taxes for the first time. She came highly recommended by a couple of other RE investors.

I turned the paperwork in on March 9. She took two, two-week vacations after the April 15th deadline, and finally got our returns back to us at the beginning of July after taking our paperwork with her on a third vacation.

I reviewed what she'd done, and found some obvious data entry issues and a couple of other spots where I think she may have made mistakes. Was she on her third glass of wine when she did it? I don't know. I sent a polite email asking her about the apparent problems. It has now been 3 1/2 weeks and I haven't heard back. I followed up with her secretary who informed me that they had been getting notices from the IRS that had to be responded to in a timely fashion, and that they would get to my return when they could.

At this point I think I'd be better off just doing my taxes myself. Do you think I have grounds to ask for a refund?

" Do you think I have grounds to ask for a refund? "

YES.

Ask for the refund, try contacting whatever Department of Professional Services you may have in WI (whoever licenses CPAs). A letter to Consumer Affairs might help, too.

As last resort, file for Small Claims Court.

Always check your return. My CPA firm forgot my NOLS one year. This year I had to pay a small amount because I had to take the minimum from a 401K at age 71.5 but I think my NOLS should have made that not happen. I will call him as soon as vacation is over. When my second husband and I had our first tax return he used a guy he liked for our return. We went to sign it and I looked at it and he had messed up and we were supposed to be getting a $500 tax refund. Took me five minutes to see that.

Year ago a realtor told me what improvements I needed to be done to sell a single family house quickly. After spending a bundle and having it "show" ready within 3 weeks, the realtor said, I'm going on a 3 week vacation and someone in my office will handle the listing.

During that 3 week period I got an offer. I owned the house for about 7 years and the offer was for less than my cost -- $50,000 less than my asking price. The nerve to have me drive 50 miles for nothing.

Then the realtor came back in town and set an open house again. Now the realtor informs me she is going back home, another State, to be with her family during the holidays -- for a month.

The same Bozo from her office handled my listing. I then called my agent and told her I'm taking the property off the market and renting it out.

Then 7 months later i got an offer even thought I had a tenant. When my agent found out I sold the property she sued me for her commission. I counter sued for my loss of rent during the 3 months she did nothing to sell it and the $10,000 I put in fixing it up, her style. We settled out of court, she had insurance that paid me off.

Incompetent "professionals" ought to be fired the moment they are caught sleeping on the wheel.

My CPA made a mistake that our Loan officer caught

He quickly fixed and re-filed

First lesson...NEVER pay up front. We talk about this with contractors all the time....ditto for professional services.

Second lesson...pay with a debit card: then you can dispute the transaction and get your money back if the CPA refuses. She can then try to prove she was due the funds.

I think lack of clarity must be an issue here. Were timelines put forth in the original employment agreement? I can't see why it would take over 4 months to prepare a return correctly, even with lots of vacations thrown into the mix. My CPA can prepare mine in 30-45 minutes. We do rentals, tax liens, and flips and both my wife and I have W-2 income from 4 different sources as well. Tell me your tax returns is significantly more complicated and MAYBE I could see it taking 2-3 hours. They have software now that makes it a piece of cake.

Mistakes happen, true. Extensions are common in the tax business. But to not have someone to answer your questions and fix it is not acceptable. Certainly you need to find someone else. You can ask for a refund, even take them to court for it, but have someone else review and find a new accountant for next year.

I did receive my return before I paid for it, but her SOP is to bring you in for a review, sit across the table, flip through pages and show you the bottom line (you owe money, so sorry). It was after I took it home and reviewed it page by page, line by line, that I started finding issues.

I used a CPA for two years. He has rentals and I was referred to him by another rental owner. He had me review his work. There were also a couple of mistakes in there as well. Data entry type of mistakes such as inputting $600 instead of $6000.

I do my own taxes. I think you have a better understanding of how expenses, etc impact your taxes when you do them yourself.

One year I had a CPA review the taxes I had last sent in(also someone with rentals). I wanted to know if I was missing anything. Apparently not. She only had one suggestion for us(she suggested we not get big refunds at tax time). For $125 I had piece of mind that we were doing taxes correctly.