the Cost of Personal Accounting Services

We used a local accounting service to file our income tax return.

The $125 fee included all the forms, electronic filing, and a refund anticipation loan. The latter allows one to collect any returns within two weeks, via electronic deposit, instead of waiting for a check to be cut and mailed.

We used this service for years to file our taxes, without incident. Later, new people were hired and we were assigned a new clerk rather continuing to be served by the owner. We didn't have a problem with it, until we wound up with someone else's tax information on the CD that was supposed to contain our information.

We sent back the CD, wondering if someone else had copies of our personal information (Social Security numbers, birth dates, etc. for our whole family).

We received a new CD, and this one contained the information for a small, local business. Again, we sent back the CD, this time contacting the owner to voice our concerns. When we once again received someone else's information, we showed up in person to speak to the owner.

He apologized profusely, and the person handling our account was apparently let go. We felt bad, but we considered the situation very serious.

With so much personal information compiled on a CD, identity theft was a real concern. We had no idea who might have received our information and apparently the accounting service didn't either. If someone else received our CD, he or she did not return it.

Despite the originally cordial relationship, and years of satisfactory service, we felt we had no choice but to hire a new accounting service this year.

It's probably better to go directly to the accounting service to pick up your CD or files so you can check them for accuracy.